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Composite Indices of Human Well-being: Past, Present, and Future

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  • Mark McGillivray
  • Farhad Noorbakhsh

Abstract

This paper surveys the various composite well-being indices that have been inter-country assessments over the last 40 or so years, including the well known Human Development Index (HDI). A number of issues are considered, including the choice of components, component weights, scale equivalence, non-linearity, correlations among components and the policy relevance of such measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark McGillivray & Farhad Noorbakhsh, 2004. "Composite Indices of Human Well-being: Past, Present, and Future," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-63, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:rp2004-63
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    Cited by:

    1. James Foster & Mark McGillivray & Suman Seth, 2009. "Rank Robustness of Composite Indices," OPHI Working Papers 26, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    2. Cifuentes, Myriam Patricia & Doogan, Nathan J. & Fernandez, Soledad A. & Seiber, Eric E., 2016. "Factors shaping Americans’ objective well-being: A systems science approach with network analysis," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 1018-1039.
    3. Philipp Kolo, 2012. "Measuring a New Aspect of Ethnicity - The Appropriate Diversity Index," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 221, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.

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