4. CASE STUDY: HONDURAS
4.5 Elite Interview
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立 政 治 大 學
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N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
4.5 Elite Interview
In this section the researcher will show a series of opinions from a diverse selection of professionals regarding their opinions towards birth rate and income inequality in economic development.
The first interviewee is Honduran Lawyer and Public Notary Waldo Rivera. Waldo Rivera, is also a writer and Professor in the Law Faculty of Honduras largest public university: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH). Professor Rivera was asked in the interview to give his opinion concerning birth rate and economic development in Honduras. The following was his opinion: “Education is a factor that affects the issue of birth rate, this meaning less education, more children, which leads to fewer opportunities for each family member, in this sense, a high birth rate will continue to be a factor that diminishes the opportunities and consequently, economic development. At the present time, education continues to be a priority, with the aggravating circumstance that poverty in Honduras is around 70%, which implies that population growth will not stop, further deteriorating the already low essential coverage of the social and economic rights of the population.” (Rivera, W., May 24, 2018).
Professor Rivera was also asked about his opinion towards the researchers argument, he argued the following: “Undoubtedly, the interaction of birth rate and income inequality has a negative impact on the economic development of the country, high birth rate implies fewer opportunities for growth, fewer opportunities to access good quality formal education, which is accompanied by income inequality, product of not having the required training in competitive world.”(Rivera, W., May 24, 2018). Lastly, Professor Rivera concluded with a suggestion to what he thinks would be a solution to increase Honduras economic development: “We must educate the population, I mean
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formal education, train people so that they can compete, educate them so they can discern that a family with a larger number of members means more difficulty to achieve success, they will have fewer opportunities, since the competition for survival will begin in their own homes. A small family maximizes resources.”(Rivera, W., May 24, 2018).
From Professor Rivera’s opinion we can observe an agreement with the researcher’s main argument, in which the interaction of birth rate and income inequality have an effect on economic development. Indicating that, in a country with a high birth rate, the level of economic development tends to be much lower when this country has a higher level of income inequality.
Our second interviewee who decided to remain anonymous for this interview, is an expatriated Honduran doctor with a specialty in gynecology. Our second interviewee suggested that: “The birth rate variable by itself does not affect a countries economic development. A country can have a high population and still be prosperous. The real problem is observed when there is high birth rate and income inequality acting together in a country.” (Interviewee A., May 27, 2018)
The interviewer proceeded to ask the interviewee about his personal experience while he worked as a Doctor in the public area in Honduras. The interviewee explained that “At the beginning when I was a general Doctor, I could see that in the departments of La Paz, Ocotepeque, Lempira and Intibucá, was where you could find more poverty and women with a major number of kids. Later on, when I got my specialty and worked in the capital, I could observe that most of the pregnancies I attended in the public hospital were of teenage girls. Both rural and urban areas had a similarity, the lack of quality education. Education in Honduras is a great problem, this because you could see that the less educated these pregnant women were, the more children they had.”(Interviewee A., May 27, 2018) From the second interviewee’s answers, the researcher found again a strong agreement with her argument.
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國立 政 治 大 學
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Finally, the last interviewee Francis Contreras, is a Doctor, who holds the position of sub-secretary of health in the current government. Doctor Contreras shared one opinion with the second interviewee. The interviewee argued that “Economic development in a country is not defined by birth rate. There are other factors that might be more important. If birth rate was the most important factor, that would mean that countries that had a low birth rate would be left without any productive workforce, which would limit economic development in a country.” (Contreras, F., May 28, 2018).
Based on this answer, we can see that the Doctors interviewed in this section, thought the same way regarding the possible effect of the variable birth rate on economic development. Finally, when asked his opinion about the interaction of birth rate and income inequality on economic development, the interviewee argued: “I believe there is no direct interaction, income inequality is not determined by birth rate, therefore I do not believe a direct relationship with economic development.” (Contreras, F., May 28, 2018).
In conclusion, we can observe two opinions in favor and one against on the interaction between birth rate and income inequality affecting economic development. Also, Doctors emphasized that in their opinion there was absolutely no relationship between birth rate and economic development.
On the other hand, the legal and academic opinion believed there was. Possibly the different ethical orientation taught in this different careers marked the difference on opinions between a lawyer and two doctors. Both opinions with different insights give a lot to think about. Hence, opening a path to explore their arguments in further studies.
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國立 政 治 大 學