IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jhudca/v17y2016i3p309-323.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Aspirations and the Development Treadmill

Author

Listed:
  • Debraj Ray

Abstract

I describe a positive theory of socially determined aspirations, and some implications of that theory for the study of economic inequality and social conflict. The main contribution of the theory is that it attempts to describe, in the same explanatory arc, how a change in aspirations can be inspirational in some circumstances, or a source of frustration and resentment in others. These different reactions arise from the aspirational gap: the difference between socially generated aspirations and the current socio-economic standard that the individual enjoys. Ever-accelerating economic development can cut both ways in terms of inspiration and frustration.

Suggested Citation

  • Debraj Ray, 2016. "Aspirations and the Development Treadmill," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 309-323, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:jhudca:v:17:y:2016:i:3:p:309-323
    DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2016.1211597
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/19452829.2016.1211597
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/19452829.2016.1211597?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Goux, Dominique & Gurgand, Marc & Maurin, Eric, 2014. "Adjusting Your Dreams? The Effect of School and Peers on Dropout Behaviour," IZA Discussion Papers 7948, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Melissa S. Kearney & Phillip B. Levine, 2016. "Income Inequality, Social Mobility, and the Decision to Drop Out of High School," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 47(1 (Spring), pages 333-396.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. begard Iversen & Anirudh Krishna & Kunal Sen, 2017. "Beyond poverty escapes – social mobility in the Global South: A survey article," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 172017, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    2. Hovi, Matti & Laamanen, Jani-Petri, 2021. "Income, aspirations and subjective well-being: International evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 287-302.
    3. Carol Graham & Julia R. Pozuelo, 2023. "Do high aspirations lead to better outcomes? Evidence from a longitudinal survey of adolescents in Peru," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1099-1137, July.
    4. Eger, Claudia & Miller, Graham & Scarles, Caroline, 2018. "Gender and capacity building: A multi-layered study of empowerment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 207-219.
    5. Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr. & Nshakira-Rukundo, Emmanuel, 2021. "Religiosity and parental educational aspirations for children in Kenya," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Molina, Teresa & Usui, Emiko, 2022. "Female Labor Market Opportunities and Gender Gaps in Aspirations," IZA Discussion Papers 15453, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Flavio Delbono, 2020. "Le diseguaglianze in Italia nella stagione del Covid-19," QUADERNI DI ECONOMIA DEL LAVORO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(111), pages 73-86.
    3. Celhay, Pablo A. & Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio & Riquelme, Cristina, 2024. "When a strike strikes twice: Massive student mobilizations and teenage pregnancy in Chile," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    4. Guido Neidhöfer, 2019. "Intergenerational mobility and the rise and fall of inequality: Lessons from Latin America," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(4), pages 499-520, December.
    5. Carpenter, Craig Wesley & Anderson, David & Dudensing, Rebekka, 2019. "The Texas Drilling Boom and Local Human Capital Investment," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(2), pages 199-218, May.
    6. Jesse Rothstein, 2019. "Inequality of Educational Opportunity? Schools as Mediators of the Intergenerational Transmission of Income," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(S1), pages 85-123.
    7. Iacopo Odoardi & Donatella Furia & Piera Cascioli, 2021. "Can social support compensate for missing family support? An examination of dropout rates in Italy," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 121-139, February.
    8. Steven N. Durlauf & Ananth Seshadri, 2018. "Understanding the Great Gatsby Curve," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(1), pages 333-393.
    9. Tharcisio Leone, 2022. "The geography of intergenerational mobility: Evidence of educational persistence and the “Great Gatsby Curve” in Brazil," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 1227-1251, August.
    10. Mekonnen, Daniel & Gerber, Nicolas, 2015. "The Effect of Aspirations on Agricultural Innovations in Rural Ethiopia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211680, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Omar Abdul Rahman Kittaneh, 2019. "Estimating the Income Distribution of Some Muslim Countries Based on Entropy Measures تقدير توزيع الدخل لبعض الدول الإسلامية بناء على مقاييس عشوائية," Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, Islamic Economics Institute., vol. 32(1), pages 159-169, January.
    12. Maria Marchenko, 2019. "Endogenous Shocks in Social Networks: Exam Failures and Friends' Future Performance," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp292, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    13. Jon D. Wisman & Aaron Pacitti, 2015. "What the American Elite Won over the Past 35 Years and What All Other Americans Lost," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(3), pages 197-221, May.
    14. Kishan P K V, 2018. "Is the Past Still Holding Us Back? A Study on Intergenerational Education Mobility in India (revised as on 26.09.18)," IIMA Working Papers WP 2018-01-03, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    15. Andros Kourtellos & Chih Ming Tan & Steven N. Durlauf, 2022. "The Great Gatsby Curve," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 571-605, August.
    16. La Ferrara, Eliana & Carlana, Michela & Pinotti, Paolo, 2017. "Goals and Gaps: Educational Careers of Immigrant Children," CEPR Discussion Papers 12538, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Tharcisio Leone, 2019. "The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence of Educational Persistence and the “Great Gatsby Curve" in Brazil," Documentos de Trabajo 17526, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA).
    18. Burger, Kaspar, 2019. "The socio-spatial dimension of educational inequality: A comparative European analysis," MPRA Paper 95309, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    19. Maitreesh Ghatak & Thierry Verdier, 2023. "Inequality and identity salience," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 181-191, July.
    20. Sreyoshi Das & Camelia M Kuhnen & Stefan Nagel, 2020. "Socioeconomic Status and Macroeconomic Expectations," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(1), pages 395-432.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jhudca:v:17:y:2016:i:3:p:309-323. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CJHD20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.