‘Economic development’ and what it means

Lately, in speeches, news reports, news releases, conversations, and intellectual expressions and discourses coming from all sectors of our NMI community, in particular by our elected and appointed officials, they never missed referencing on “economic development” as their center of attention. I asked one of our elected gatekeepers what “economic development” is and whether such concepts really make agreeable consensus between speaker and hearer that it actually has concrete and definitive meaning. After allowing my dear elected gatekeeper to declare his thoughts and understanding, it became obvious to me that talking the talk about “economic development” and what it means is problematic because if some of our elected and appointed officials could not come to grips with the basics of what the concept stands for, could you imagine how many of our ordinary people have good understanding what “economic development” is? Hence, I thought this would be a good point of reference for discussion.

The word “development” in the context of the social, political, and economic conditions and situations is indeterminate. If you express the word development as an adjective as in “development economics” you would have a totally different connotation. If you specify an adjective before the word development as in “economic development,” yet again an expansive subject matter and still in present modern times we continue arguing in theories and practices what single meaning all human efforts and interactions could draw to bear. Ordinary person would find solutions to meaning by separating words as in “economic” and “development” in economic development. If the word “development” is hard enough to define, and in this case I am suggesting it is indeterminate, could you imagine what results would manifest clearly and precisely by the use and meaning of the word “economic”? And, then it seems that “economic development” would refer to an “economy” that is bounded and place-centered community where it is situated by its own confined boundary. So, in reference to the NMI, do we expect our elected and appointed officials in our Commonwealth government that their convention and thought processes about “development,” “economic,” and “economy” are universal and represent the common language of the general ordinary population of the NMI community?

Economics is often referred to as the dismal science because it deals with inescapable limitations and hardships of human existence and interactions confronting a specific economy. Hence, economics is not the science of allocating plentiful resources; it ruminates instead on the allocations of short or limited supplies of resources. In the NMI, the resources that we have may include the land, the indigenous people, the sea, and the sun, and our history of these islands.

In economics terms, we try to live within our own sweat, driven by such particular circumstances. We learned or have knowledge about economics in order to face or be reminded about facts of hardships and scarcity. In my childhood years, I remember real well how my late father would manage to feed us for supper with a pound of meat stew loaded with green vegetables. Such scarcity and sweat force resulted in satisfying our nutritional needs. And we had on many occasions resorted to this means in order to make good of what we had. When opportunity, hope, and the possibility of the good life regulate in light of real limitations, the desire to survive is no small part of what we meant by “economics.”

It is at the intersection of hardship and opportunity that economics takes on its human significance. It is here that the economy becomes important to ordinary people. So, economics is all about hardship and opportunity. And where as long as one does not use more than he/she has, economics is serving its human purpose. This blends well with what “economy” is all about.

The economy is placed or located within a specific boundary and consists of producing and consuming actors, all interacting in many diverse and endless ways addressing the human conditions. The Greek root for the word “economy” is “oikos,” which means “household.” Under Greek terms, economics is the art of household management. In this sense, the relationship of hardship and opportunity within the particular bounded setting of a specific household which we can construe as “the economy.” When we talk about the NMI economy, we are simply saying the confines of the CNMI islands. Although, we are connected to a global economy or the national economy of the U.S., our economy only refers to the bounded areas of the NMI and should be the natural locus of economics.

A large part of our habitation of these islands is economics. It is a matter of recognizing that a particular place is the “household” that must be managed. The interplay of scarcity and possibility that we call the “economics” may unfold itself. The development aspects of our economy may refer to the concerted actions and policy interventions by policy makers and players in our community that promote the standard of living and economic stability of our bounded region. Development also signify in many ways the changes being forced and regulated in the economy such as the human capital, critical infrastructures, regional competition, social inclusions, health, safety, literacy, and other human opportunities. The processes and policies by which improvement in the economy, satisfaction and wellbeing of the social and political stability are sustained in constant terms are all part of the development efforts and outcomes. Hence, development of the economy through sound and intelligent economics would have direct relationship with our environment.

All these concepts are in play from the economy, the economics, and its integrated mix of development results whether good or bad, or aggressive or regressive. Obviously, it is a misnomer that the concept of “economic development” necessarily means that the economy is always in good condition. And for as long as degrees of results are involved, the politics of the day would take over. Nonetheless, our elected and appointed leaders should make clear what they mean when they converse about the “economy” and “economic development” and that less rhetoric mask the conversation is much better than saying nothing at all.

Francisco R. Agulto
Kannat Tabla, Saipan