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Redundancy, Unilateralism and Bias beyond GDP – results of a Global Index Benchmark

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  • Dill, Alexander
  • Gebhart, Nicolas

Abstract

Eight out of ten leading international indices to assess developing countries in aspects beyond GDP are showing strong redundancy, bias and unilateralism. The quantitative comparison gives evidence for the fact that always the same countries lead the ranks with a low standard deviation. The dependency of the GDP is striking: do the indices only measure indicators that are direct effects of a strong GDP? While the impact of GDP can be discussed reverse as well, the standard deviation shows a strong bias: only one out of the twenty countries with the highest standard deviation is among the Top-20 countries of the world, but 11 countries among those with the lowest standard deviation. Let’s have a look at the backsides of global statistics and methods to compare their findings. The article is the result of a pre-study to assess Social Capital for development countries made for the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The study leaded to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) project World Social Capital Monitor.

Suggested Citation

  • Dill, Alexander & Gebhart, Nicolas, 2016. "Redundancy, Unilateralism and Bias beyond GDP – results of a Global Index Benchmark," MPRA Paper 74268, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Oct 2016.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:74268
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dan Lee & Kap-Young Jeong & Sean Chae, 2011. "Measuring Social Capital in East Asia and Other World Regions: Index of Social Capital for 72 Countries," Global Economic Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 385-407, December.
    2. Miles Cahill, 2005. "Is the Human Development Index Redundant?," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 1-5, Winter.
    3. Katherine Scrivens & Conal Smith, 2013. "Four Interpretations of Social Capital: An Agenda for Measurement," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2013/6, OECD Publishing.
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    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • B40 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - General
    • C10 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - General
    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
    • E16 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Social Accounting Matrix
    • E66 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General Outlook and Conditions
    • F62 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Macroeconomic Impacts
    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O2 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • P00 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - General - - - General
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General
    • Y8 - Miscellaneous Categories - - Related Disciplines
    • Y80 - Miscellaneous Categories - - Related Disciplines - - - Related Disciplines
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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