Zur Entstehung einer aktuellen politischen Vision

Das Ende der Armut ist erklärtes Ziel der Weltgemeinschaft. Nicht nur unterschiedliche Deklarationen der Vereinten Nationen fordern ein Ende der Armut, ebenso zeigen Ökonomen wie Jeffrey Sachs optimistisch auf, was getan werden muss, damit die Armut genauso besiegt wird wie früher die Pocken. Allerdings ist die Idee eines Endes der Armut nicht neu. In diesem Aufsatz wird die Entstehung der Idee eines erreichbaren Endes der Armut historisch rekonstruiert. Dabei wird deutlich, dass ein Ende der Armut erst dann zu einer realistischen Option wurde, als man unter Armut nur noch absolute Überlebensarmut verstand und Armut empirisch zu messen begann – und damit Aspekte wie Ungleichheit ausblendete. Unsere Vorstellung davon, was Armut ist, wurde durch diese enge Sichtweise nachhaltig geprägt. Das erhoffte Ende der Armut wird daher genau nicht ein Ende dessen sein, was Armut eigentlich ausmacht

insights into a difficult relationship – and possible political implications

This paper explores the relationship between happiness and inequality. It does so firstly through an analysis of how "classical" authors of political economy and philosophy have linked these two issues. Secondly, major findings of "happiness economics" are discussed in the context of new insights about how happiness is influenced by inequality. This paper also addresses whether these findings provide any substantial arguments for combatting inequality on the grounds of promoting "happiness". It will be seen that although some empirical research shows that the prevalent levels of inequality influence happiness in society, the main argument in favor of tackling inequality for the sake of happiness is normative. In this interpretation, happiness is closely related to John Stuart Mill's neo-Aristotelian idea of "self-fulfillment" and less so to the neo-Benthamite notion of "hedonic pleasure". In the wake of an ever greater emphasis on analyzing people’s "subjective well-being" within national statistics, this has political implications as it calls for the importance of allowing free and broad discussions on the "fairness" of the prevailing political systems as an important prerequisite to promote happiness – and combat inequality

Modeling, Statistics and Political Circumstances

Das Konzept der ”„wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung„ dominiert die internationale Zusammenarbeit. Das Pro-Kopf-Einkommen (gemessen am Bruttoinlandsprodukt bip) zeigt, ob ein Land mehr oder weniger entwickelt ist. Der Standardindikator dafür, dass Entwicklung stattfindet, ist das bip-Wachstum. Dieser Artikel untersucht die Entstehung des Konzepts der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung als das Ergebnis eines besonderen Zusammenspiels von Modellierung, Statistik und politischen Rahmenbedingungen. In dieser Geschichte spielt Arthur Lewis eine besondere Rolle – aber nur weil er auf die ersten internationalen Einkommensstatistiken Colin Clarks zurückgreifen konnte, die eine grundlegende Basis für Lewis berühmtes Modell der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung darstellten. Lewis Modell der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung wurde von Politikern dankbar aufgegriffen, da es endlich das lange sehr vage verstandene Konzept der Entwicklung konkretisierte und operationalisierbar machte. Wichtiger jedoch war, dass die Statistiken, auf die Lewis seine Argumentation aufbaute, schon lange poltisch etabliert und akzeptiert waren, bevor sie theoretisch untermauert wurden. Mit anderen Worten: Statistik kam in dieser Geschichte vor der Theorie. Dies ist eine wichtige Lektion für den Versuch, Alternativen zur Idee der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung zu etablieren. Es kann gezeigt werden, warum das Konzept der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung so fest im Sattel sitzt und welche Bedingungen und Schritte notwendig wären, damit sich Alternativen durchsetzen.The notion of “economic development” dominates aid policy. A nation’s per capita Gross Domestic Product (gdp) determines whether that country is considered developed or less developed, and the standard measure of any developmental progress is gdp growth. This article investigates the evolution of the concept of economic development, as it emerged from a specific combination of modeling, statistics and political circumstances. In this story, Arthur Lewis played a decisive role, but only by building upon Colin Clark’s first global national income statistics, an indispensible foundation for Lewis’s seminal model of economic development. This model was embraced by policy makers longing for a theoretical framework to clarify and operationalize the hitherto vague concept of development. More importantly, however, the statistical indicator on which Lewis based his theory had already been universally accepted. In other words: statistics came before theory. This holds important lessons for alternative development ideas. It explains why the idea of economic development remains so firmly entrenched and suggests the conditions that might be necessary for an alternative theory to take hold

Event: Philipp Lepenies challenges growth indicators ahead of general election

GDP has been relied upon at every turn by the coalition government to demonstrate the credibility of its ‘long-term economic plan’. Ahead of the general election, LSE alumnus Philipp Lepenies will question how GDP came to be indispensable as the indicator for progress, and demonstrate why any attempt to reduce the impact of this figure on policy needs to start by understanding how it came to occupy the throne in the first place

Poverty: The Socio-economic Dimension of Sustainable Development

Poverty eradication has become a global political priority. The United Nations have made it clear that poverty is the most important issue to be resolved if sustainable development is to be reached. The first and most prominent of the recently proclaimed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) thus boldly reads „End poverty in all its forms everywhere“. Poverty has been a constant feature of humanity. It has been the source of fierce political debates and repression, of internal and external instability, of upheavals and violent conflicts. It is obvious that poverty, within a nation, a region or on an international level not only prevents millions of people from decent livelihoods, equality, justice, rights and general human flourishing. It is the single-most debilitating obstacle that inhibits other political goals from being reached. But what is poverty exactly? Who counts as poor? And who does not? Should we actively do something against poverty? And if so, what? This course proposes answers to these questions. Poverty is a social construct that can only be understood in the light of specific social, historical, cultural, economic and political contexts. It is a multidimensional phenomenon that cannot be analyzed through the lens of a single scientific discipline alone

Transforming by Metrics that Matter - Progress, Participation, and the National Initiatives of Fixing Well-Being Indicators

The goal of governments is to enhance the well-being of their citizens. In the aftermath of World War II, national product (be it gross national or gross domestic) and its rate of growth were seen as a proxy indicator to measure well-being – making economic growth doubtless the most powerful political indicator in history. Yet, in light of the negative effects of growth such as climate change and due to methodological progress in measuring well-being or happiness, governments have begun to reconsider the belief that growth automatically leads to improved well-being. The Sustainable Development Goals of 2015 underline a universal desire to “transform our world” and the fact that this transformation is to be done with the help of alternative statistical indicators. In the last decade, a number of national governments have embarked on a largely unnoticed, but revolutionary OECD-driven endeavor: to fix national alternative measures of well-being “beyond GDP”, to decide in a participatory manner which indicators matter to people and to discuss which new or adapted notion of progress is valid in the 21st century. This paper will highlight a number of these national cases and analyze the context in which these initiatives evolved. It will be shown that although revolutionary in their aspirations, many initiatives do not live up to their expectations. This has to do with the manner in which they were executed, with the political unwillingness to really consider alternatives to GDP and to allow broad participation. But it might also show that the expectations regarding the power of indicators to guide policies might be exaggerated

Behaviour change : extralegal, apolitical, scientistic?

Peer reviewe

Chemical synthesis of phosphatidylinositol mannoside glycans from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The efficient synthesis of phosphatidylinositol mono- to hexa-mannoside (PIM1 to PIM6) is reported. The invention relates to these phosphatidylinositol mono- to hexa-mannosides carrying a linker and a reactive functional group, e.g. the sulfhydryl group, a protein, a fluorescent probe, or a solid phase. The invention further relates to vaccines comprising the PIMs linked to a carrier protein or an antigen