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Going Beyond GDP with a Parsimonious Indicator: Inequality-Adjusted Healthy Lifetime Income

Author

Listed:
  • Bloom, David E.

    (Harvard School of Public Health)

  • Fan, Victoria Y.

    (University of Hawaii at Manoa)

  • Kufenko, Vadim

    (University of Hohenheim)

  • Ogbuoji, Osondu

    (Duke University)

  • Prettner, Klaus

    (Vienna University of Economics and Business)

  • Yamey, Gavin

    (Duke University)

Abstract

Per capita GDP has limited use as a well-being indicator because it does not capture many dimensions that imply a "good life," such as health and equality of opportunity. However, per capita GDP has the virtues of easy interpretation and can be calculated with manageable data requirements. Against this backdrop, a need exists for a measure of well-being that preserves the advantages of per capita GDP, but also includes health and equality. We propose a new parsimonious indicator to fill this gap and calculate it for 149 countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Bloom, David E. & Fan, Victoria Y. & Kufenko, Vadim & Ogbuoji, Osondu & Prettner, Klaus & Yamey, Gavin, 2020. "Going Beyond GDP with a Parsimonious Indicator: Inequality-Adjusted Healthy Lifetime Income," IZA Discussion Papers 12963, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12963
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    Cited by:

    1. David E. Bloom & Michael Kuhn & Klaus Prettner, 2022. "Modern Infectious Diseases: Macroeconomic Impacts and Policy Responses," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 85-131, March.
    2. Michael Kuhn & Klaus Prettner, 2023. "Rising Longevity, Increasing the Retirement Age, and the Consequences for Knowledge‐based Long‐run Growth," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(357), pages 39-64, January.
    3. David E. Bloom & Victoria Y. Fan & Vadim Kufenko & Osondu Ogbuoji & Klaus Prettner & Gavin Yamey, 2021. "Going beyond GDP with a parsimonious indicator: inequality-adjusted healthy lifetime income," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 19(1), pages 127-140.
    4. Thomas Döring & Birgit Aigner-Walder, 2022. "The Limits to Growth — 50 Years Ago and Today," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 57(3), pages 187-191, May.
    5. Zhang, Junlai & Prettner, Klaus & Chen, Simiao & Bloom, David E., 2023. "Beyond GDP: Using healthy lifetime income to trace well-being over time with estimates for 193 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    beyond GDP; well-being; health; inequality; human development; lifetime income;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts

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