Is the middle-income trap caused by a middle-development trap?

Are We Missing Sustainable Development by Focusing Excessively on Growth?-7

In our recent articles, during this challenging process where new discourses regarding justice in every field, poverty, distribution, structural reforms, sustainable development, and market failures need to be discussed; in a day and age where the neo-liberal project, which fails to respond to market failures, has reached a dead end, we have debated whether the solution lies in the markets, which Liberals call the "invisible hand," or in the state, which is called the "visible hand," which seeks solutions to market failures and is invited to take action in every crisis. In our articles, by demonstrating that the optimal path for ensuring sustainable growth-development and long-term productivity between these two approaches requires establishing the right balance between the state and the market, we have tried to offer contributions and suggestions to policymakers within the framework of the following questions:

-The Neo-Liberal Movement, the Washington Consensus, and Market Failure

-Transformation in the Turkish Economy and Economic Crises within the Framework of the Washington Consensus

-Criticisms of the Neo-Liberal Economy, Market Failures, the Market-Friendly State Concept, and the Search for Optimum Balance

-Do the Poor Benefit from Growth? Is it Growth Focused on the Poor or Impoverishing Growth?

-Is There an Immoral Growth in a Hormonal Turkish Economy?

-New Searches between Liberalism and Socialism: What Should the State's New Role in the Economy Be?

-Prioritizing Structural Reforms and the Quality of Institutions, Should We Focus on Human Development and Quality of Life Instead of Growth?

-Is the Middle-Income Trap Caused by a Middle-Development Trap? Are We Missing Sustainable Development by Focusing Excessively on Growth?...

While responding to these problems, the state must act with intergenerational moral responsibility in resource allocation. We must consider that today's debts are tomorrow's taxes, today's budget and current surpluses are tomorrow's investments, incomes, and expenditures, and that the deficits in the opposite case are the cause of tax increases in the coming periods.

We must not ignore that today's environmental problems and concrete-heavy urbanization lead to tomorrow's unhealthy generations, that allocating less share to education and health today—that is, not making sufficient investments to develop our human capital—will lead to high rates of poverty, urbanization, migration, and crime tomorrow, and that income inequality also creates inequalities of opportunity, especially in the fields of education and health. Our country's fertile lands, air, water, greenery, historical texture, all living beings, and all values are a trust from future generations to us. We have moral responsibilities to protect and develop them and to hand over this trust to future generations intact.

While the gap between wealth and income widens in favor of wealth, even today's Neo-liberals now advocate for progressive wealth taxes. When the market cannot overcome these failures on its own, it becomes inevitable for the state to intervene in the market with various tools and regulations.

Similarly, in his book "Capital in the Twenty-First Century," the Frenchman Thomas Piketty, who is also considered to have recently presented a critical approach to the capitalist system, actually presents the policies to be implemented as an "antidote," even if they currently disturb the capitalist system. In his book, the author reveals that the rate of return on capital increases faster than the growth rate of nominal national income, and that this increasingly distorts the distribution of wealth in favor of the rich; after revealing that the problem in capitalism is not the falling rate of profit as Marx predicted, but rather that wealth is historically and stably concentrated in the hands of a privileged group, he assigns tasks to the state regarding the redistribution of wealth, primarily through progressive wealth taxes that should be implemented, and discusses the necessary measures.

The state, taking into account the questions: "We grew, but did we develop? IS THE MIDDLE-INCOME TRAP CAUSED BY A MIDDLE-DEVELOPMENT TRAP?", "Is high per capita income in a country sufficient on its own for that country to be accepted as a developed, advanced country?", "Are we missing HUMAN DEVELOPMENT and QUALITY OF LIFE, WELFARE AND HAPPINESS by focusing excessively on GROWTH-INCOME?", "Is growth inclusive? Does it reflect on the poor?", "Are international and local funds used effectively in development and according to our country's priorities?", must implement policies that prioritize meeting the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

For this, it must also take strategic measures that will reflect the "sustainable development" model understanding by establishing a balance between ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, and ENVIRONMENTAL dimensions, and ensure that future generations live in better conditions. In this framework, the United Nations' "Sustainable Development Goals," which aim to be reached between 2015-2030, covering 17 goals, 169 targets to follow this process, and 244 indicators related to these targets, and aiming that no one on earth is deprived of the fruits of development, should be taken as a basis for measuring the performance of countries.

IN CONCLUSION;

It is necessary to solve social problems, increase the welfare and happiness of citizens without lowering anyone's quality of life, ensure that everyone gets their fair share of the national income, solve the problem of hunger and poverty, and support regional development by ensuring equality of opportunity in every field and justice in income distribution.

It will be the fundamental duty of the social state to create a more hopeful, happy, and secure Turkey with high prosperity, within the framework of freedom, justice, equality, and solidarity, without ignoring the positive relationship between inclusive, qualified, sustainable growth and development, by realizing structural reforms as soon as possible, increasing the capacity of institutions, and ensuring the rule of law and democratization.

As it was at the founding of the REPUBLIC, in the second century of our Republic, policies targeting sustainable development within the framework of the social state understanding must be implemented for a TURKEY where quality of life and human development are high, without giving up on our present or our children's future. The proverb "The world was not inherited from our grandfathers, we borrowed it from our children" should also form the basis of our Sustainable Development understanding.