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The fourth première of the Human Development Index

  • Development Indicators
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Intereconomics

Abstract

The United Nations Development Program has published its Human Development Index values for most countries of the world for the past five years. It claims the index provides information that goes beyond the widely-used GDP data and is relevant for policy-making. Critical examination shows that the index does not yet live up to this claim.

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References

  1. See United Nations Development Program (UNDP): Human Development Report 1990, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

  2. UNDP: Human Development Report 1994, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

  3. T.N. Srinivasan: Human Development: A New Paradigm or Reinvention of the Wheel?, in: American Economic Review, Vol. 84, 1994, No. 2, pp. 238–243.

  4. Meghnad Desai: Human Development, Concepts and Measurement, in: European Economic Review, Vol. 35, 1991, pp. 350–357, or Sudhir Anand and Martin Ravaillon: Human Development in Poor Countries: On the Role of Private Incomes and Public Services, in: Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 7, 1993, No. 1, pp. 133–150.

  5. See Richard Reichel: Der „Human Development Index”—ein sinnvoller Entwicklungsindikator? in: Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, Vol. 40, 1991, No. 1, pp. 57–67, or Mark McGillivray: The Human Development Index: Yet Another Redundant Composite Development Indicator?, in: World Development, Vol. 19, 1991, No. 10, pp. 1461–1468.

  6. See Niels C. Lind: Some Thoughts on the Human Development Index, in: Social Indicators Research, Vol. 27, 1992, No. 1, pp. 89–101.

  7. See Harald Trabold-Nübler: The Human Development Index—A New Development Indicator?, in: INTERECONOMICS, Vol. 26, 1991, No. 5, pp. 236–243.

  8. See UNDP: Human Development Report 1993, Oxford, Oxford University Press, especially pp. 104 ff.

  9. UNDP: Human Development Report 1994, op. cit. Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 91 f.

  10. Harald Trabold-Nübler, op. cit. The Human Development Index— A New Development Indicator?, in: INTERECONOMICS, Vol. 26, 1991, No. 5; the Human Development Report 1993, pp. 108 f.

  11. See UNDP: Human Development Report 1994, op. cit. Oxford, Oxford University Press, p. 108 with regard to the index formula and pp. 129 ff.

  12. See UNDP: Human Development Report 1993, op. cit. Oxford, Oxford University Press, especially p. 109 (the quotation from Anand and Sen), and UNDP: Human Development Report 1994, op. cit. Oxford, Oxford University Press, p. 92.

  13. See World Bank: World Development Report 1994, Oxford, Oxford University Press, p. 219.

  14. See Harald Trabold-Nübler, op. cit. The Human Development Index— A New Development Indicator?, in: INTERECONOMICS, Vol. 26, 1991, No. 5, p. 240; see UNDP: Human Development Report 1993, op. cit. Oxford, Oxford University Press, especially p. 108.

  15. See UNDP: Human Development Report 1993, op. cit. Oxford, Oxford University Press, especially p. 107.

  16. UNDP: Human Development Report 1994, op. cit. Oxford, Oxford University Press, p. 129; for Singapore, see also Peter Smith: Measuring Human Development, in: Asian Economic Journal, Vol. 7, 1993, No. 1, pp. 89–106.

  17. T.N. Srinivasan, op. cit. Human Development: A New Paradigm, or Reinvention of the Wheel?, in: American Economic Review, Vol. 84, 1994, No. 2, p. 240.

  18. See also Paul Streeten: Human Development: Means and Ends, in: American Economic Review, Vol. 84, 1994, No. 2, pp. 232–237, here p. 236.

  19. UNDP: Human Development Report 1993, op. cit. Oxford, Oxford University Press, especially p. 105.

  20. See Partha Dasgupta and Martin Weale: On Measuring the Quality of Life, in: World Development, Vol. 20, 1992, No. 1, pp. 119–131.

  21. See Michael Hopkins: Human Development Revisited: A New UNDP Report, in: World Development, Vol. 19, 1991, No. 10, pp. 1469–1473, here p. 1471.

  22. UNDP: Human Development Report 1994, op. cit. Oxford, Oxford University Press, p. 91.

  23. See Partha Dasgupta and Martin Weale, op. cit. On Measuring the Quality of Life, in: World Development, Vol. 20, 1992, No. 1, pp. 119–131.

  24. See UNDP: Human Development Report 1994, op. cit. Oxford, Oxford University Press, p. 92.

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  1. University of Freiburg, Germany

    Guido Lüchters & Lukas Menkhoff

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  1. Guido Lüchters
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  2. Lukas Menkhoff
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Lüchters, G., Menkhoff, L. The fourth première of the Human Development Index. Intereconomics 30, 9–15 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02926356

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