Technological Change, Development and the Environment

Socio-Economic Perspectives

Clem Tisdell, Priyatosh Maitra, Clem Tisdell, Priyatosh Maitra

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351106078
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: International Economics
• Index: Economics

Originally published in 1988, this book considers some of the major social, economic and environmental questions raised by the role of new technology in development. Throughout the discussions of issues like the sustainability of the development effected by new technology is supported by detailed case studies from countries such as India, Australia, New Zealand, China, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Chapter One

TECHNOLOGY:    A FACTOR IN DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Clem Tisdell

INTRODUCTION

New technology (its availability and application) is of extraordinary importance as a factor in economic growth and development, as a determinant of the nature and structure of society and as a contributor to changes in environmental quality. Its importance in these respects, though now widely recognized by economists and social scientists, has not been and is not always fully appreciated. The contributions in this volume are intended to underline its pervasive influence both in less developed countries (LDCs) and developed economies.

It has been suggested that the major reason for the commencement of sustained economic growth in the eighteenth century in Great Britain was not high levels of savings and capital accumulation but new inventions and their application (Dean, 1955). Blum et al. (1967) have argued that in almost every developed country of today sustained economic growth has followed adoption of a new technology and that this adoption has often been a precursor to rising levels of capital accumulation and economic growth. All these writers argue strongly against the hypothesis that in order to obtain a take-off of economic growth, it is necessary initially for a country to achieve a high rate of savings and capital accumulation as, for example, proposed by Rostow (1952). It is argued that this is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for sustained economic growth. Recent studies support this point of view (see for example, Kenwood and Lougheed, 1982). It is also clear that in developed countries, qualitative factors (such as improved technology) have been more important than quantitative factors, (such as increases in the quantity of capital) as apparent sources of growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in recent decades (Cf. Denison, 1962).

If one accepts the critical importance of technological change as a factor in economic growth, this leads onto further questions. Not all of these are answered in this volume but many are addressed. They include the following: To what extent can we expect the socially most appropriate technology to be developed in a society and applied? What controls (degree of free choice) do nations and individuals have over the application of technology? Is the range of technologies developed and actually applied in the best interest of nations and societies, especially LDCs, and if not, why not? How is the nature of the family, family life and of work likely to be affected by new technologies both within the home, and the workplace, for example, by the increased availability of information-intensive goods and machines and telecommunication facilities? Can we predict the likely characteristics of future technologies, what are they likely to be and what social consequences can be expected from them? Do LDCs face particular obstacles to economic development because of their later start and their reliance on imported technology? What environmental problems and social adjustment problems may be encountered as a result of the emergence of new technologies which increase man’s control over or effect on nature and which also lead to the relative rise and fall of different industries? Let me indicate how these matters are addressed in this book.

THE CONTRIBUTIONS

The next five chapters (Chapters 2–6) concentrate on the role of new technology in the development (or underdevelopment) of less developed nations (especially India, Bangladesh and China) whereas most of the remaining chapters are focussed on the social and industrial consequences of new technology in more developed nations such as the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. However, some contributions are not country-specific but are general, and even those that refer to the experience of particular nations have wider applications as pointed out by their individual authors.

It may be useful to readers to have an overview of the individual contributions to this volume, and I shall now provide that. However, I wish to emphasize that a brief overview is by necessity selective. It is a personal interpretation and cannot do full justice to the individual contributions. Each reader must in the end interpret the individual contributions. Nevertheless, an initial guide may prove of value for orientation purposes.

In Chapter 2, Priyatosh Maitra argues that India has failed to develop in the main because as a consequence of past British territorial imperialism, it was not able to develop its own indigenous technology (which it would have most likely done as an independent nation in order to cope with the pressure of its rising population) and has become dependent on imported foreign technology. It has not recovered from its experience under imperial control and still remains heavily dependent on imported technology from developed countries (the Centre) even though technically it has the power to cut itself off from such imports. He believes that India is only likely to achieve economic development, or at least lasting economic development, if it develops its own technology independently of the Centre. While Maitra uses Marxian-type analysis, he criticizes a number of Marxist interpretations of India’s development experience.

Alauddin and Tisdell consider in Chapter 3 the experience of Bangladesh in adopting ‘Green Revolution’ technologies in its agriculture. Those technologies have been ‘spearheaded’ by developed nations through CGIAR (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research). While in Bangladesh’s case, the use of those technologies has resulted in a tremendous increase in food production, Bangladesh has become increasingly unable to sustain its rising population from its own food production and has become more dependent on imports of food, of technology and of inputs required for agricultural production. In addition, doubts are raised about the ecological possibility of sustaining its past growth rates of food production. Nevertheless, Bangladesh’s predicament might have been worse in the absence of its use of ‘Green Revolution’ technologies.

Nripesh Podder takes an optimistic view in Chapter 4 of the benefits to mankind of new technology and disagrees with Maitra’s thesis that the dependence of a nation such as India on foreign technology is a prime factor in underdevelopment, that is, an important element contributing to economic backwardness (Cf. Tisdell, 1987). He argues that on the whole import of technology from abroad should be welcomed as a means of improving human welfare in recipient countries.

Joseph Remenyi suggests (Chapter 5) that more attention should be given to improving institutional mechanisms for developing appropriate agricultural technology for LDCs. In the past, developed countries have tended to take a dominating role (even through CGIAR) in providing assistance to LDCs for the development of new agricultural technologies, for example, in determining research priorities and in directing actual research. He suggests that a partnership is likely to be more beneficial and that the operation of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) might prove to be a useful model to emulate (Cf. Tisdell, 1986).

For a period of time, China followed a path of technological and economic autarky which it abandoned with its adoption of the Four Modernisation principles for the 1976–85 ten-year economic programme. As Hsu O’Keefe points out in Chapter 6, China now needs to develop and become more familiar with economic technologies for better evaluating new technologies and choosing between technologies available from abroad. She illustrates China’s requirement for economic evaluation of technologies by considering problems of choosing between alternative urban transportation systems and projects in China requiring different transport technologies.

In developed countries, there has been a long-term tendency for the terms of trade to move against agriculture, partly because rapid technological progress has increased agricultural supply, and demand for agricultural produce is relatively inelastic. Consequently, employment in the agricultural sector has fallen in most developed countries and continues to do so. This has been associated with considerable structural adjustment and change in rural societies. This is especially evident in Australia, which has been much disadvantaged by the protective agricultural policies of industrialized nations. Warren Musgrave outlines in Chapter 7 the adjustment problems that have been experienced by the Australian rural sector paying particular attention to the emergence of rural poverty. He suggests that the Australian experience is also relevant to that of other countries (e.g., Canada).

At a general level, Khan and Zerby use cluster analysis in Chapter 8 to consider the association between technological change and social welfare. Indices of technological change and technological effort for 126 countries are compared by them with selected indicators of social welfare or social development. Their evidence suggests that the association between the two factors is not a close one. However, this conclusion must be regarded as a tentative one, given the difficulties of obtaining appropriate technological and social indicators.

Chisholm raises a different issue in Chapter 9, namely the prospect that economic development and continuing use of resources employing new technology may prove ecologically or environmentally unsustainable. To some extent, this possibility is mentioned by Alauddin and Tisdell in relation to agricultural resource use in Bangladesh, but for Chisholm’s contribution it is the prime focus. He pays particular attention to the implications for rational decisions of irreversible use of natural resources when uncertainty exists about the future value of these resources.

Chapters 10–13 and to some extent 14, concentrate on social and sociological implications of new technologies, especially Third Wave technologies (Toffler, 1981, 1979) such as those associated with the growth of the electronics industry, telecommunications and information-intensive technologies.

Darton and O’Neill make use in Chapter 10 of U.K. survey data to identify patterns of changing consumption within the home. They examine new technology that can be used within the house and identify various social implications of it, e.g., the increasing tendency of individual family members to engage in individualistic rather than group-leisure activities in the home, an increasing tendency of individuals to spend their leisure-time in the home rather than outside.

Peter Hall explores the question in Chapter 11 of whether technical advances in telecommunication and associated technology such as computer technology, are likely to change work patterns fundamentally. In particular, is there likely to be a substantial increase in the number of people working from home? What factors are likely to influence the decision to work from home? He demonstrates that the answers to these questions are not as simple as they may seem to be at first sight.

Advances in electronics, telecommunications and computing equipment have had a substantial impact on technology in the banking industry. In Chapter 12, Hazel Suchard considers the attitudes and reactions of bank employees to such changes in South Africa. In Chapter 13, Rae Weston and Alan Williams examine the socio-economic impact of technological change in banking for Australia and New Zealand. They consider its human resource consequences, note that appropriate banking technologies may become more consumer-determined in the future than in the past as deregulation of monetary and fiscal services proceeds and believe that banking culture and organizational structure will undergo considerable changes as a result of the continuing introduction of new electronic technologies.

Jacobus Doeleman debates in Chapter 14 the issue of social determinism in relation to new technology. To what extent is society able to choose at all? Are technologies the result of historical events beyond the control of societies? Even if societies have some choice, individuals may have little or no choice in using technologies because of externality phenomena – a possibility which Doeleman illustrates, for instance, by reference to the availability of transport systems based on the car, and the decision of an individual to own a car.

Rias van Wyk reviews in Chapter 15 standard methods which have been used by economists to identify sources of economic growth and finds them wanting particularly in suggesting prognoses for future technological change. He suggests that a more direct approach to technological forecasting is needed, namely a general theory of technology – ‘eine allgemeine Technologie’, in order to properly understand and manage technology. Taking this point of view, he outlines an approach to ‘technological analysis’ which is used to identify technological trends and outlines how these might be measured. He suggests research possibilities which could, as he claims ‘lead to a new level of understanding of technology and the measurement of its impact on society’.

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

Scientific and technological change has a wide impact on society from both economic and sociological viewpoints (Cf. Bell, 1973; Tisdell, 1981). The diversity of its effects are well illustrated by the contributions to this volume, which also raise several policy and social philosophy issues. Indeed, as is to be anticipated, when dealing with such a complex subject, some contributors hold conflicting views about the consequences of technological change, for example when it depends on import of foreign technology, and therefore their work suggests different policy conclusions. In order to provide appropriate background and comparison, alternative interpretations and hypotheses as put forward in the literature are reviewed as part of most contributions. It is hoped that the diversity of contributions and perspectives in this volume, dealing as they do with the common theme of technology as a factor in economic and social development, will prove to be an asset.

NOTE

1.    I wish to thank Dr. Priyatosh Maitra for his helpful suggestions for this chapter.

REFERENCES

Bell, D. (1973) The Coming Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting, Basic Books, New York

Blum, J., Cameron, R. and Barnes, T.G. (1967) The Emergence of the European World, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London

Dean, P. (1955) ‘The Implications of Early National Income Estimates for the Assessment of Long-Term Economic Growth in the United Kingdom’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 4, pp 3–38

Denison, E.F (1962) Survey of Economic and the Alternatives before Us, Committee for Development, New York

Kenwood, A. G. and Lougheed, A. L. (1982) Technological Diffusion and Industrialisation Before 1914, Croom Helm, London

Rostow, W.W. (1952) Process of Economic Growth, Norton, New York

Tisdell, C.A. (1987) ‘Imperialism, Economic Dependence and Development: A Brief Review of Economic Thought and Theory’, Humanomics, 3, pp. 6–29

Tisdell, C.A (1986) ‘International Scientific Co-operation, Technology Transfer and Aid: ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand’, Prometheus, 4, pp. 111–127

Tisdell, C.A. (1981) Science and Technology Policy: Priorities of Governments, Chapman and Hall, London

Toffler, A. (1981) The Third Wave, Pan, London

Toffler, A. (1979) Future Shock, Pan, London

Chapter Two

POPULATION GROWTH, TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT – THE INDIAN CASE, WITH A CRITIQUE OF MARXIST INTERPRETATION

Priyatosh Maitra

INTRODUCTION

This chapter involves a critique of Marxist interpretation of the nature and causes of persistence of underdevelopment in terms of population growth and technological change, using India as a case study.

In most works on technological change, effects of population growth have been ignored or considered as a negative factor. One important reason might be that since modern technological change began to evolve as a result of the use of modern science in the process of production in the late nineteenth century in the United Kingdom and later in the European countries, population growth in the West began to slow down and has continued to do so. High economic growth with rapidly expanding foreign trade caused the demand for labour to exceed its supply and necessitated technological change from an extensive to an intensive phase of industrial growth. Rapid technological change since then has fostered the processing of human resources into human capital.

Thus it is that, in all works on the role of technological change in the Third World, quantitative growth of pop...