John RapleyONE SOMETIMES hears commentators in the Jamaican media bemoan all this talk of crisis. What crisis? By most indicators, things in Jamaica have been getting better all along. So why are we obsessed with the bad? Let us leave aside for the moment the fact that Kingston is now measured by the murder rate as one of the world's most violent cities.
Of course, many will object to leaving out such a crucial indicator. Never-theless, for the sake of argument, if we do so, most remaining indicators per capita income, the employment ratio, longevity, educational attainment point to stasis at worst, and in many cases improvement. Thus, the bewilderment of commentators becomes understandable. That is, were it not based on an apparently false premise.
Knowingly or otherwise, such commentators accept the basic principle of neo-classical economic theory, namely that humans are utility-maximisers. Following this logic, increases in material well-being - whether in the form of income gains or new services, such as education or health care lead directly to increases in human contentment. However, the weight of social scientific research has long suggested that what governs human contentment is not absolute but relative prosperity. Humans do not measure their well-being by comparison to the way things were for them in the past. Rather, they measure them by comparison to where they think they could be in the present. And their point of reference for this purpose is other human beings.
The last two centuries have seen the most rapid technological development in human history. The principal effect of this progress has been a revolution in human productivity. Year upon year, decade upon decade, output has increased. While some Third World countries have arguably suffered structural obstacles inhibiting the effective adoption of these technologies, by and large they are nonetheless universally available. So, expectations rise. And in a country where the rate of growth has been slow, the gap between what has been done and what could have been done widens.
This produces disappointment, and a rising level of frustration. This is Jamaica's syndrome. One can refer to the Penn World Tables, standard measures for comparison of development. Over the last two generations, the growth in Jamaica's per capita income has been below the global average. The island is in the lower third of the planet's performers, a not-so-illustrious club that includes some of the so-called "failures" of development. It is sobering to note that at the time of its Independence, Jamaica stood richer, in per capita terms, than Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia, Syria or the Seychelles. All have left us in the dust. And yet, Jamaica has grown. So why the grumbling?
It is like watching your country's athlete walk to the finish line in the hundred-metre dash. He may berate the ingratitude of his supporters for booing him since, after all, he did finish the race. But since he hardly clothed them in glory, it is only natural that they will be angry. So, to secure access to the resources they feel are rightly theirs, many people resort to anti-social, often criminal ways. Not only does this further inhibit economic growth, but it deprives citizens of their sense of freedom and security, all while degrading the nation's social fabric.
This is hardly novel. Revolu-tionary periods, whether in 19th century Europe or 1960s Latin America, have tended to correspond not to periods of economic decline, but of growth (which, however, fell short of citizens' expectations). I rather doubt a criticism sometimes made of those who lament Jamaica's relative under-performance, namely that they lack patriotism. I suspect the opposite applies. What I hear is that Jamaica has had the ability to do much better than it has.
Why be satisfied with mediocrity? To survey the vast reservoirs of human ingenuity this country possesses, they have a point. If a brilliant student produces a mediocre paper, what favour does the teacher do him to say it's acceptable? It's the caring teacher, who sees the student's potential, who takes the firm line.
Like it or not, we live in a world of rapid change.
Modern communications technology has raised the awareness of ordinary citizens of that outside world. And if we fail to keep up, we can make our excuses. But the spectators will still be unlikely to forgive.
John Rapley is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona.
