RT Journal Article
T1 Improving human development: a long-run view
A1 Prados de la Escosura, Leandro
AB The pessimistic flavour of the Human Development Reports appearsto be in contradiction with their own numbers as developing countries farecomparatively better in human development than in per capita GDP terms.This paper attempts to bridge this gap by providing a new, ‘improved’ humandevelopment index (IHDI), informed by welfare economics. The IHDI ispresented here alongside the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP)HDI for the world and its main regions since the late 19th century. Socialdimensions in the IHDI are derived, following Kakwani (Journal of DevelopmentEconomics 41 (1993), pp. 307–336), with a convex achievement function, whereasa geometric average is employed to combine its dimensions (longevity, knowledgeand income). Thus, the IHDI does not conceal the gap between rich and poorcountries and casts a much less optimistic view than the conventional UNDPindex, while it fits with the UNDP concern for international differences. Thepaper’s findings highlight main weaknesses in human development dimensionsof present-day developing countries.
PB Wiley-Blackwell
SN 0950-0804 (impreso)
SN 1467-6419 (on line)
YR 2010
FD 2010-12
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10016/10187
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10016/10187
LA eng
NO European Community's Seventh Framework Program
NO Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Research Project ‘ConsolidatingEconomics’, Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Programme), the HI-POD Project, Seventh ResearchFramework Programme Contract no. 225342, and Fundación Rafael del Pino’s ResearchProject on ‘Economic Freedom in History’ is highly appreciated.
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RD 27 jul. 2024