Comments

Great summary of the potential for data collection using new technologies Amanda. Can vouch for the effectiveness in complex settings in PNG. With Amanda's technical and professional support for the leadership of Executive Director of Village Courts & Land Mediation Secretariat in Dept of Justice & Attorney General, we collected data from 35 District Courts in many provinces in PNG for Village Courts related matters over 6 months. We had tried for 2 years with a hard copy system with 1 response. Mobile phone data project was invaluable to DJAG and demonstrated openness and capability of PNG agencies when supported well and practicalities of remoteness are addressed. Thanks Amanda.

Hi Roy, Thanks for your comment. I'm not aware of the literature on resource conflict, but beyond that there are four reasons I can think of to be concerned with economic inequality. 1. Diminishing marginal utility to income (which I cover above). This provides compelling reason on its own. 2. That high inequality leads to slower economic growth. There have been some good recent papers on this by the OECD and IMF, suggesting that it does (in certain countries at least) but the evidence is not yet conclusive. 3. Spirit level type arguments that more unequal countries have higher crime, and more violence etc. These findings are still much debated although I find them quite persuasive. However, they apply for the most part (and are based on data from) OECD countries where severe absolute material deprivation is not very minimal. 4. That economic inequality leads to political inequality, which can lead to anti-poor politics. On 1 & 3 I would say that for aid work the foremost issue remains one of raising average levels of income in poor countries (as per the post). On 2 I think we need more evidence particularly with respect to countries that receive a lot of aid, before we conclude the issue gives us cause to be concerned. On 4 and your point about conflict, here we potentially see real issues, but I'm not sure the best way for aid to try and tackle them is to take aim at economic inequality per se but rather to try and address the issues directly (as best we can, if we think it's possible). Recall that I'm not saying that economic inequality doesn't matter, I think it does. But I think it probably isn't something aid can do a lot about in most instances. And I think there are other forms of inequality which matter more for aid work (most of the time). Thanks again Terence

Thank you Dr Amanda for this very resourceful information. The PNG government and policy makers need to take these methods into consideration because it it true that PNG needs concrete and real time data to make workable policies that will enhance equal distribution of wealth and services to citizens especially the majority in rural areas. Non-government organizations and international partners who are utilizing SMS technology to help people in the rural areas are helping and I commend them for that. Dr Amanda, your SMS projects in the justice, health and education sectors have proven greatly and this has to be promoted and supported by the PNG government and the departments concerned. A word of advice to individuals, non-government organizations and government agencies who do not know how to begin a SMS project to collect vital customer/client or population data/statistics. They ought to seek proper advice from experts like Dr Amanda before leaping into the mobile phone SMS technology for data collection. They could fall for a telecommunication company's 'marketing stunt' but remember, it's very costly and one might not get the data they needed. Thanks again Dr Amanda. ...Regards... Stanley Mark

Hi Terence, I am aware that there is quite a lot of evidence to suggest that high levels of inequality can lead to conflict over resources. In many countries this is a major factor impacting on development. It's therefore strange to be arguing that development practitioners should not be concerned about inequality. The work of David Halpern et al (see: The Spirit Level) also shows that societies that are 'more equal' are generally 'better off' in terms of well-being. So I am surprised to see your line of argument. Roy

Very nice article. Collecting data in remote locations in PNG is not easy and it's very expensive.

Thank you Jules, I think your last point is a good one. And I'd say that even where there is a relationship (almost always a complicated one) between economic inequality and other development issues we care about we need to think carefully about how we go about tackling the issue in question. It may be the case that it has to be tackled by addressing economic inequality, but quite possibly the best point of entry is though one of the other related variables. Terence

Dr Woods, First off, I appreciate your breaking away from what seems obvious by questioning certain narratives, no wonder Alisa and Kate are questioning your angle. I agree with them especially as I have experienced economic inequality both as an aid worker of sorts and LDCs resident. In agreeing with your doc, economic inequality should not be a priority earmarked for fixing as its explanation is more correlational than rooted in causality reasons such access to education or unbiased distribution of public goods. Thanks

Thanks Anne. In her innovationXchange launch address, Bishop was pretty frank about the need for DFAT to learn to take calculated risks: “though it is difficult for government to navigate the area of risk, if we are working in collaboration with the private sector – who understand and can build contingencies in for risk – then we certainly have room to move when we are accommodating the risks that we will inevitably come up against in the innovationXchange”.

Thanks Kate, To be clear, I'm not saying that aid practitioners should never worry about economic inequality, but rather that other issues, including other forms of inequality, are usually more important for aid work. And therefore aid practitioners focusing too much on economic inequality is a mistake even though we live in an age where economic inequality is definitely an issue more generally. Terence

I think Alisa has a point - perhaps the question should not be 'Should aid practitioners worry about economic inequality?' but rather 'How much should aid practitioners worry about economic inequality?'. These are everyday issues for all of us living and working in developing countries that are recipients of aid, regardless of which particular field we work in.

Michael, I am glad to read about the positive input that you and others are putting into the economic division of UPNG. I can recall during my time as a fourth year student (in 2008) it was a very challenging with lack of focus on quantitative economic analysis. Although we had lecturers who took us for econometrics and cost benefit analysis, many of us students found that the lectures lacked a lot of depth. Subsequently, most of us ended up graduating without much satisfaction, doubting our ability to perform rigorous CBA and regression analysis. Seeing the deterioration in the quality of teaching within the division in 2007, some of us students undertook the effort to revive the dormant "Economics Student Society" as our attempt to rectify the problems plaguing the division. Frankly, we lacked the numbers when it came to staff so we decided to use the numbers offered by the students to negotiate for reforms. So when I was elected the President of the Society (in 2007) my executives and I set out to strengthen the student body to lobby for changes to purposely improve student-lecturer welfare. One of our biggest accomplishments was the successful attempt to reinstate the Bachelor of Economics degree program which was due to be shelved as part of UPNG's administration reforms. Our argument was that if the degree was shelved it could have a severe impact on the "marketability" of economics students on the job market, given that the degree program was one of the pioneering programs in UPNG. We were also able to publish the first newsletter (ESS NEWSLETTER) and we worked with the incoming executives of 2008 to introduce an "Economics Day" which was supposed to have coincided with the "UPNG Economic Update". We were also planning to introduce an intern program within the division to allow 3rd year economic students to be attached with relevant government departments, research institutions and private sector entities to provide a practical environment for the students to apply their theoretical economic knowledge. However, we ran out of time and could not do this. I am sure that these sorts of initiatives will one way or another contribute to reviving and strengthening the economics division and the profession in PNG that you and others are already making a valuable contribution toward.

Thanks for your comment, Salma -- of course you're absolutely right that child marriage exists as an 'everyday' problem, that is, outside of conflict/war zones. But one of the main points that I took away from this publication is that the rates of child marriage appear to have escalated significantly since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria, but in general humanitarian relief agencies don't think about addressing child marriage during conflicts. One of the figures cited in the report (p. 11) illustrates this lack of programming quite starkly: "• There were 0 projects, out of 67, funded by the pooled funding available for inside Syria 2014 which addressed child marriage. • There was 1 project, out of 67, funded by the pooled funding available for inside Syria which specifically addressed GBV."