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Optimizing the new formulation of the United Nations' human development index: an empirical view from data envelopment analysis

Author

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  • Stéphane Blancard

    (CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement)

  • Jean-François Hoarau

    (CEMOI - Centre d'Économie et de Management de l'Océan Indien - UR - Université de La Réunion)

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new way to simulate an optimal Human Development Index [HDI]. Indeed, the formulation of the original HDI established by the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] relies on a major methodological shortcoming, namely the contestable assumption that all component indices have the same weights. So, we implement a new approach to determine the optimal weights of each sub-indicator in the light of Data Envelopment Analysis [DEA]. Accordingly, we follow the multiplicative optimization approach introduced by Zhou et al. (2010), to assess robustly the relative performance of a set of 169 economies around the world in terms of human development. Finally, the new world ranking is close to and highly correlated with the standard HDI one, giving then some support to the equal weighting method adopted by the UNDP.

Suggested Citation

  • Stéphane Blancard & Jean-François Hoarau, 2011. "Optimizing the new formulation of the United Nations' human development index: an empirical view from data envelopment analysis," Post-Print hal-02642986, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02642986
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02642986
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Blancard, Stéphane & Hoarau, Jean-François, 2013. "A new sustainable human development indicator for small island developing states: A reappraisal from data envelopment analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 623-635.
    2. Jadvyga Ciburiene, 2016. "The Evaluation Of Economic Development Index Of Poland And Lithuania In The Context Of The European Union," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 11(3), pages 437-449, September.
    3. Chris Tofallis, 2013. "An automatic-democratic approach to weight setting for the new human development index," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 1325-1345, October.
    4. Omrani, Hashem & Alizadeh, Arash & Amini, Mohaddeseh, 2020. "A new approach based on BWM and MULTIMOORA methods for calculating semi-human development index: An application for provinces of Iran," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    5. Giménez, Víctor & Ayvar-Campos, Francisco Javier & Navarro-Chávez, José César Lenin, 2017. "Efficiency in the generation of social welfare in Mexico: A proposal in the presence of bad outputs," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 43-52.
    6. 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.
    7. Ayvar-Campos, Francisco & Navarro-Chávez, José César & Giménez, Víctor, 2020. "Generation and distribution of income in Mexico, 1990-2015," Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, Universidad ESAN, vol. 25(49), pages 163-180.
    8. Shahari, Mohd Ridzwan & See, Kok Fong & Mohammed, Noor Syahireen & Yu, Ming-Miin, 2023. "Constructing the performance index of Malaysia’s district health centers using effectiveness-based hierarchical data envelopment analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    9. Victoria Wojcik & Harald Dyckhoff & Marcel Clermont, 2019. "Is data envelopment analysis a suitable tool for performance measurement and benchmarking in non-production contexts?," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(2), pages 559-595, December.
    10. See, Kok Fong & Ng, Ying Chu & Yu, Ming-Miin, 2022. "An alternative assessment approach to national higher education system evaluation," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS; HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX; ECONOMIE DU DEVELOPPEMENT;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • C6 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling

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