IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v170y2023i3d10.1007_s11205-023-03230-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quality of Life, Well-Being and the Human Development Index: A Media Narrative for the Developed World?

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Morse

    (University of Surrey)

Abstract

The Human Development Index (HDI) produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been in existence since 1990. In its annual Human Development Reports (HDRs) the UNDP provides rankings of countries based on the HDI, and the idea is that these will help bring about positive change as countries compare their performance in the rankings with what they see as their peers. The HDRs are widely reported in the media, and previous research has suggested that the extent of newspaper reporting of the HDI (i.e. number of articles) is greater for those countries at the bottom and top end of the rankings. However, there are gaps in knowledge about how the HDI is reported in these media outlets. For example, to what extent does newspaper reporting of the HDI equate it to terms such as ‘quality of life’ and ‘well-being’, and how does this relate to the ranking of countries based on the HDI? This is the question addressed by the research reported in this paper. Results suggest that newspaper do often associate the terms ‘quality of life and ‘well-being’ with the HDI, and that the association appears to be stronger for countries towards the top-end of the rankings (i.e. those that have more ‘human development’) compared to those at the bottom-end of the rankings. This suggests that the association between reporting of the HDI and ‘quality of life’ and ‘well-being’ is a narrative that is perceived by the media to suit the developed rather than developing world.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Morse, 2023. "Quality of Life, Well-Being and the Human Development Index: A Media Narrative for the Developed World?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 1035-1058, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:170:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-023-03230-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-023-03230-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-023-03230-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-023-03230-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bohringer, Christoph & Jochem, Patrick E.P., 2007. "Measuring the immeasurable -- A survey of sustainability indices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-8, June.
    2. Aturupane, Harsha & Glewwe, Paul & Isenman, Paul, 1994. "Poverty, Human Development, and Growth: An Emerging Consensus?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 244-249, May.
    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. Niels Lind, 2010. "A Calibrated Index of Human Development," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 301-319, September.
    5. Stéphane Blancard & Jean-François Hoarau, 2011. "Optimizing the new formulation of the United Nations' human development index: An empirical view from data envelopment analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(1), pages 989-1003.
    6. Stephen Morse, 2011. "Attracting Attention for the Cause. The Reporting of Three Indices in the UK National Press," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 17-35, March.
    7. Neumayer, Eric, 2001. "The human development index and sustainability -- a constructive proposal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 101-114, October.
    8. Pinar, Mehmet & Stengos, Thanasis & Topaloglou, Nikolas, 2017. "Testing for the implicit weights of the dimensions of the Human Development Index using stochastic dominance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 38-42.
    9. Laurens Cherchye & Erwin Ooghe & Tom Puyenbroeck, 2008. "Robust human development rankings," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 6(4), pages 287-321, December.
    10. Jill J. McCluskey & Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes & Johan Swinnen, 2016. "Media Coverage, Public Perceptions, and Consumer Behavior: Insights from New Food Technologies," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 467-486, October.
    11. Doshi, Rush & Kelley, Judith G. & Simmons, Beth A., 2019. "The Power of Ranking: The Ease of Doing Business Indicator and Global Regulatory Behavior," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(3), pages 611-643, July.
    12. Eric Neumayer, 2012. "Human Development and Sustainability," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 561-579, November.
    13. Stephen Morse, 2018. "Focussing on the Extremes of Good and Bad: Media Reporting of Countries Ranked Via Index-Based League Tables," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 631-652, September.
    14. Ed Diener & Shigehiro Oishi & Louis Tay, 2018. "Advances in subjective well-being research," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 253-260, April.
    15. Marcel Garz, 2014. "Good news and bad news: evidence of media bias in unemployment reports," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 161(3), pages 499-515, December.
    16. Lee Stapleton & Guy Garrod, 2007. "Keeping things simple: why the Human Development Index should not diverge from its equal weights assumption," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 84(2), pages 179-188, November.
    17. Sudhir Anand & Martin Ravallion, 1993. "Human Development in Poor Countries: On the Role of Private Incomes and Public Services," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 133-150, Winter.
    18. Ahmet M. Çilingirtürk & Habip Koçak, 2018. "Human Development Index (HDI) Rank-Order Variability," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 481-504, June.
    19. Stephen Morse, 2016. "Measuring the Success of Sustainable Development Indices in Terms of Reporting by the Global Press," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 359-375, January.
    20. Ravallion, Martin, 2012. "Troubling tradeoffs in the Human Development Index," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 201-209.
    21. Georges Nguefack-Tsague & Stephan Klasen & Walter Zucchini, 2011. "On Weighting the Components of the Human Development Index: A Statistical Justification," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 183-202.
    22. Jari Kätsyri & Teemu Kinnunen & Kenta Kusumoto & Pirkko Oittinen & Niklas Ravaja, 2016. "Negativity Bias in Media Multitasking: The Effects of Negative Social Media Messages on Attention to Television News Broadcasts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-21, May.
    23. Gustav Ranis & Frances Stewart & Emma Samman, 2006. "Human Development: Beyond the Human Development Index," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 323-358.
    24. Streeten, Paul, 1994. "Human Development: Means and Ends," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 232-237, May.
    25. Sagar, Ambuj D. & Najam, Adil, 1998. "The human development index: a critical review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 249-264, June.
    26. John Lott & Kevin Hassett, 2014. "Is newspaper coverage of economic events politically biased?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 65-108, July.
    27. Hickel, Jason, 2020. "The sustainable development index: Measuring the ecological efficiency of human development in the anthropocene," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    28. Assa, Jacob, 2021. "Less is more: The implicit sustainability content of the human development index," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    29. Frederik Booysen, 2002. "An Overview and Evaluation of Composite Indices of Development," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 115-151, August.
    30. Tomson Ogwang, 2000. "Inter-country inequality in human development indicators," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(7), pages 443-446.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephen Morse, 2013. "Bottom Rail on Top: The Shifting Sands of Sustainable Development Indicators as Tools to Assess Progress," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(6), pages 1-21, May.
    2. Stephen Morse, 2020. "To Rank or Not to Rank with Indices? That Is the Question," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-20, July.
    3. 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.
    4. Panagiotis Ravanos & Giannis Karagiannis, 2021. "A VEA Benefit-of-the-Doubt Model for the HDI," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 27-46, May.
    5. Ayça Özekin, 2024. "Recalculation of the Human Development Index via Multiplicative Data Envelopment Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 217-245, October.
    6. Débora Pereira & Caroline Mota, 2016. "Human Development Index Based on ELECTRE TRI-C Multicriteria Method: An Application in the City of Recife," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 19-45, January.
    7. Morse, Stephen, 2003. "For better or for worse, till the human development index do us part?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 281-296, June.
    8. Stephen Morse, 2018. "Focussing on the Extremes of Good and Bad: Media Reporting of Countries Ranked Via Index-Based League Tables," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 631-652, September.
    9. 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.
    10. Diogo Ferraz & Enzo B. Mariano & Daisy Rebelatto & Dominik Hartmann, 2020. "Linking Human Development and the Financial Responsibility of Regions: Combined Index Proposals Using Methods from Data Envelopment Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(2), pages 439-478, July.
    11. Ayasrah, Tha'r, 2012. "The Social Economic Development Index: A New Measurement of Development," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 46(2), pages 37-53.
    12. Wang, Hanjie & Feil, Jan-Henning & Yu, Xiaohua, 2023. "Let the data speak about the cut-off values for multidimensional index: Classification of human development index with machine learning," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    13. Jeni Klugman & Francisco Rodríguez & Hyung-Jin Choi, 2011. "The HDI 2010: new controversies, old critiques," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(2), pages 249-288, June.
    14. Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2021. "Augmented human development in the age of globalization," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(4), pages 946-975, November.
    15. Mehmet Pinar & Thanasis Stengos & Nikolas Topaloglou, 2022. "Stochastic dominance spanning and augmenting the human development index with institutional quality," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 315(1), pages 341-369, August.
    16. Assa, Jacob, 2021. "Less is more: The implicit sustainability content of the human development index," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    17. Petróczy, Dóra Gréta, 2021. "An alternative quality of life ranking on the basis of remittances," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    18. Javier Bilbao-Ubillos, 2013. "Another Approach to Measuring Human Development: The Composite Dynamic Human Development Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 473-484, April.
    19. 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.
    20. Mehmet Pinar, 2019. "Multidimensional Well-Being and Inequality Across the European Regions with Alternative Interactions Between the Well-Being Dimensions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 31-72, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:170:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-023-03230-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.