Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
determine the economic system in terms of its structure and distribution of
assets. Social resilience can therefore be examined through proxy indicators,
such as institutional change and economic structure, and through demographic
change, each of which are discussed briefly below.
A further aspect of social resilience is therefore stability, particularly of
livelihoods. The insecurity of economic well-being, as measured through
variance of income sources, for example, is often argued to be not as important
as growth in these income sources when economies are stable. But much
contemporary economic theory and policy is increasingly based on the premise
that economic growth itself is dependent on institutions and social
infrastructure. The stability of social systems in themselves can be a
contributing factor to induced innovation and technological development.
Further, it is argued that sustained economic growth is dependent oncapturing
positive externalities from investment in human capital. Both these sources of
economic growth (human capital and technological development) are
encouraged by stable social and economic circumstances. Further, there is
increasing evidence that sustained economic growth is also promoted by the
equitable distribution of assets within populations, due to various economic
linkages. These linkages include the arguments made by Keynsian economists
that equitable wealth enhances aggregate demand within the economy , and
further evidence that the economic productivity of the workforce is
jeopardized by the consequences of large-scale inequality. Other elements of
resilience at the community level can be observed through proxies, such as
formal sector employment, recorded crime rates, and by demographic factors
or other culturally defined variables. These indicators allow examination of
links to changes in production of the resources on which communities are
‗dependent'. But at the individual level, choices in livelihoods and social
investments are more likely to be observed through income and other variables
such as migration, which indicate stability at the household level.
Mobility and migration are a further set of important indicators of
resilience. However, resilience or changes in resilience cannot simply be
inferred from the presence or absence of migrants in any area or community;
the degree of labour mobility; or an increase or decrease in total population
over time. Significant population movement can be evidence of instability, or
could be a component of enhanced stability and resilience, depending on the
type
of migration. Migration and circular mobility occur for a plethora of
reasons. Displacement migration may be caused by a deleterious state of
affairs in the home locality and often has negative impacts on social
infrastructure in both sending and receiving areas.
