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Improving Human Development: A Long-run View

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  • Prados de la Escosura, Leandro
Abstract
The pessimistic flavour of the Human Development Reports appears to be in contradiction with their own numbers as developing countries fare comparatively better in human development than in per capita GDP terms. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by providing a new, ?improved? human development index [IHDI], informed by welfare economics. The IHDI is presented here alongside the UNDP?s HDI for the world and its main regions since the late nineteenth century. Social dimensions in the IHDI are derived, following Kakwani (1993), with a convex achievement function, while a geometric average is employed to combine its dimensions (longevity, knowledge, and income). Thus, the IHDI does not conceal the gap between rich and poor countries and casts a much less optimistic view than the conventional UNDP index, while fits with the UNDP concern for international differences. The paper?s findings highlight main weaknesses in human development dimensions of present-day developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Prados de la Escosura, Leandro, 2010. "Improving Human Development: A Long-run View," CEPR Discussion Papers 7982, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7982
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Sostenibilidad del desarrollo: hacia una contabilidad histórica del ahorro genuino
      by juanhmex in Pasado y Presente de la Economia Mundial on 2013-02-27 16:19:04

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    Cited by:

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    3. Rebecca Williams & Les Oxley, 2016. "The Geography of Inventiveness in the Primary Sector: Some Initial Results for New Zealand, 1880–1895," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(2), pages 151-173, July.
    4. Emanuele Felice & Michelangelo Vasta, 2015. "Passive modernization? The new human development index and its components in Italy's regions (1871–2007)," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 19(1), pages 44-66.
    5. Nicola Amendola & Giacomo Gabbuti & Giovanni Vecchi, 2023. "On some problems of using the Human Development Index in economic history," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 27(4), pages 477-505.
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    7. Luis Bertola & Laura Gatti, 2021. "New historical estimates of the human development index," Documentos de trabajo 66, Programa de Historia Económica, FCS, Udelar.
    8. Nicola Amendola & Giacomo Gabbuti & Giovanni Vecchi, 2018. "On the use of composite indices in economic history. Lessons from Italy, 1861-2017," HHB Working Papers Series 11, The Historical Household Budgets Project.
    9. Emanuele Felice, 2012. "Neither dashboard nor 'mashup' indices: an empirical wealth approach as a pathway to a comprehensive measure of development," UHE Working papers 2012_01, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament d'Economia i Història Econòmica, Unitat d'Història Econòmica.
    10. Sevinc Rende & Murat Donduran, 2013. "Neighborhoods in Development: Human Development Index and Self-organizing Maps," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(2), pages 721-734, January.
    11. Guido Alfani, 2016. "Measuring Well-Being in the Past," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(4), pages 785-791, December.
    12. Emanuele Felice, 2014. "GDP and convergence in modern times," Working Papers 01-14, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC).
    13. Emanuele Felice, 2016. "The Misty Grail: The Search for a Comprehensive Measure of Development and the Reasons for GDP Primacy," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 47(5), pages 967-994, September.
    14. Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2015. "World Human Development: 1870–2007," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(2), pages 220-247, June.
    15. Stanislav Holubec & Béla Tomka, 2023. "Human Development Index: Changes in East Central Europe, 1913-2010," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(2), pages 130-152.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human development; Life expectancy; Education; Per capita gdp;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I00 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General - - - General
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General

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