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Accounting for Inequality: A Proposed Revision of the Human Development Index

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  • Elizabeth Stanton

Abstract

Human Development Index (HDI) is a country-level measure of social welfare based on national values for average life expectancy, rates of adult literacy and school enrollment, and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Since HDI is based entirely on national averages it can provide only limited information about distribution within countries. The distribution of access to key resources is an important determinant of the effect of health, education and income on both individual well-being and on the aggregate well-being of a population as a whole. This paper makes a case for the importance of inequality to measuring social welfare; presents an original alternative to HDI that includes the distribution of health, education, and income in each country; and reports the results of this inequality-adjusted HDI for 46 countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Stanton, 2006. "Accounting for Inequality: A Proposed Revision of the Human Development Index," Working Papers wp119, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    • Handle: RePEc:uma:periwp:wp119
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Francesca Parente, 2019. "A Multidimensional Analysis of the EU Regional Inequalities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 1017-1044, June.
    2. Bucelli, Irene & Mcknight, Abigail, 2021. "Mapping systemic approaches to understanding inequality and their potential for designing and implementing interventions to reduce inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 109884, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Enrico Casadio Tarabusi & Giulio Guarini, 2016. "Level Dependence of the Adjustment for Unbalance and Inequality for the Human Development Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 527-553, March.
    4. Jeroen Smits & Roel Steendijk, 2015. "The International Wealth Index (IWI)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 65-85, May.
    5. Arthur MacEwan, 2007. "The Meaning of Poverty: Questions of Distribution and Power," Working Papers wp148, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    6. Burhanuddin Yusuf & Ali Rama, 2019. "Construction of Islamic Human Development Index بناء مؤشر التنمية البشرية الإسلامية," Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, Islamic Economics Institute., vol. 32(1), pages 43-64, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human Development; Inequality; Social Welfare; HDI;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I - Health, Education, and Welfare
    • H - Public Economics
    • O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth

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