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Has the world moved forward? A robust multidimensional evaluation

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  • Decancq, Koen
  • Ooghe, Erwin

Abstract

This paper presents a multidimensional normative framework to evaluate whether the world moved forward between 1980 and 2008. We focus on the robustness of the results when attributing different weights to the different dimensions. Population-weighted international welfare has not worsened over this period. However, the trend in the underlying inequality is ambiguous, once sufficient weight is given to longevity and/or income.

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  • Decancq, Koen & Ooghe, Erwin, 2010. "Has the world moved forward? A robust multidimensional evaluation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 266-269, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:107:y:2010:i:2:p:266-269
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    1. Gary S. Becker & Tomas J. Philipson & Rodrigo R. Soares, 2005. "The Quantity and Quality of Life and the Evolution of World Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 277-291, March.
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    4. Decancq, Koen & Decoster, André & Schokkaert, Erik, 2009. "The Evolution of World Inequality in Well-being," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 11-25, January.
    5. Farhad Noorbakhsh, 2006. "International Convergence or Higher Inequality in Human Development?: Evidence for 1975 to 2003," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-15, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Sudhir Anand & Paul Segal, 2008. "What Do We Know about Global Income Inequality?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 57-94, March.
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    9. World Bank, 2009. "World Development Indicators 2009," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4367, April.
    10. Steve Dowrick & Muhammad Akmal, 2005. "Contradictory Trends In Global Income Inequality: A Tale Of Two Biases," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 51(2), pages 201-229, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giuliano Resce & Fritz Schiltz, 2021. "Sustainable Development in Europe: A Multicriteria Decision Analysis," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 509-529, June.
    2. Koen Decancq, 2017. "Measuring Multidimensional Inequality in the OECD Member Countries with a Distribution-Sensitive Better Life Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 1057-1086, April.
    3. Koen Decancq, 2017. "Measuring Multidimensional Inequality in the OECD Member Countries with a Distribution-Sensitive Better Life Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 1057-1086, April.
    4. Andreas Peichl & Nico Pestel, 2013. "Multidimensional affluence: theory and applications to Germany and the US," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(32), pages 4591-4601, November.
    5. DECANCQ, Koen & FLEURBAEY, Marc & SCHOKKAERT, Erik, 2014. "Inequality, income, and well-being," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2014018, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    6. Koen Decancq & Luc Van Ootegem & Elsy Verhofstadt, 2013. "What If We Voted on the Weights of a Multidimensional Well‐Being Index? An Illustration with Flemish Data," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 34, pages 315-332, September.
    7. Nesson, Erik T. & Robinson, Joshua J., 2015. "An information theory based framework for the measurement of population health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 86-103.
    8. Nicholas Rohde & Ross Guest, 2018. "Multidimensional Inequality Across Three Developed Countries," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(3), pages 576-591, September.
    9. Savaglio, Ernesto, 2011. "On multidimensional inequality with variable distribution mean," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(4-5), pages 453-461.
    10. Kontbay-Busun, Sine & Peichl, Andreas, 2014. "Multidimensional affluence in income and wealth in the eurozone: A cross country comparison using the HFCS," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-124, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Bosmans, Kristof & Decancq, Koen & Ooghe, Erwin, 2015. "What do normative indices of multidimensional inequality really measure?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 94-104.

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