4.10.6—Evaluating growth and development strategies

Evaluate a development strategy against context and trade-offs.

Compare growth, equity, sustainability, feasibility, time horizon and unintended effects; the best strategy depends on the binding constraint.

Example

A dam may raise electricity and irrigation output while displacing communities and altering ecosystems, so evaluation must include those costs.

State criteria, weigh evidence and identify whose welfare changes.

A strategy is not successful because one indicator improves; opportunity cost and distribution remain part of the judgement.

Compare market-oriented approaches, which may strengthen prices, competition and incentives but worsen exclusion or underprovide merit goods, with government intervention, which can redistribute and coordinate long-term investment but faces information, fiscal and implementation failures. Use the binding barrier and country institutions to judge complements rather than force a universal either/or choice. For selected SDGs, compare two or more countries using the same indicator definition, base year and period; explain starting levels, policy and external conditions, and do not infer policy success from one correlation or end-point ranking.