Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Measuring Sustainable Development by Non-aggregative Approach

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Social Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The paper deals with the issue of sustainable development, considering the three dimension that traditionally define the phenomenon: economy, environment and society. By using data from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), which provide information on the perception of the sustainable development in the European countries. We want to analyse the situation of European countries by providing synthetic measures for each dimension of sustainable development. In doing this, we adopted two different methods of synthesis a non-aggregative approach, based on the theory of the partially ordered set. To test the validity and consistency of the measurement obtained, the results will be compared with those obtained by applying some of the most common aggregative methods.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Jackson (2009)’ scenarios about the required reductions carbon intensity (g CO2/$) of economic activities. Limiting the global warming under \(2\,^{\circ }\)C by 2050 while sustaining a 2% economic growth in developed nations and allowing developing nations to catch up the standard of living of developed nations would require an approximately 10% reduction in carbon intensity per year. The current annual reduction rate is approximately 1%.

  2. For more information on the survey and the main results, see: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2017/fourth-european-quality-of-life-survey-overview-report.

  3. In most cases, the indicator systems are in the form of three-way data time arrays. These data structures are characterized by a greater complexity of information, consisting in the fact that multivariate data are observed at different times (D’Urso 2000). In this paper, we analyze multi-indicator systems in a specific year, i.e. a specific slice of a three-way time data array.

  4. For detailed information about these methods, please see: Nardo et al. (2005), OECD (2008), Mazziotta and Pareto (2017).

  5. As shown by Alaimo (2020), aggregation methods can be classified according to the degree of compensability tolerated. The latter is a fundamental issue in composite index construction. According to Mazziotta and Pareto (2017), the components of a composite index are called substitutable if a deficit in one component may be compensated by a surplus in another; on the contrary, the components of a composite index are called non-substitutable if a compensation among them is not allowed. Thus we can define an aggregation approach as ‘compensatory’ or ‘non-compensatory’ depending on whether it permits compensability or not. The aggregative methods considered in this paper are distinguished by the different levels of compensability among the basic indicators:

    • The arithmetic mean implies full compensability, such that poor performance in some indicators can be compensated for by sufficiently high values in other indicators;

    • The geometric mean only allows compensability between indicators within certain limitations (partially compensative); the ability of indicators with very low scores to be fully compensated for by indicators with high scores is restricted;

    • The MPI is partially non-compensative composite indicator.

  6. Kendall’s correlation coefficient distinguishes itself from Spearman’s one by stronger penalization of non-sequential (in context of the ranked variables) dislocations.

  7. In the Hasse diagram, the nodes corresponding to Finland and Denmark are overlapping because of space reasons, even if they are incomparable.

  8. We have relativized the average heights by dividing them by their maximum value.

References

  • Alaimo, L. S. (2018). Sustainable development and national differences: An European cross-national analysis of economic sustainability. RIEDS-Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica-Italian Review of Economics, Demography and Statistics, 72(3), 101–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alaimo, L. S. (2019). Sustainable development and territorial differences: An Italian analysis of economic sustainability. In Working papers of the PhD course in applied social sciences, Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome Paper n.1/2019. https://web.uniroma1.it/disse/sites/default/files/DiSSE_Alaimo%20wp1_2019.pdf.

  • Alaimo, L. S. (2020). Complexity of social phenomena: Measurements, analysis, representations and synthesis. In Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Rome: University of Rome “La Sapienza”.

  • Alaimo, L. S., & Maggino, F. (2020). Sustainable development goals indicators at territorial level: Conceptual and methodological issues-the Italian perspective. Social Indicators Research, 147, 383–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02162-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alaimo, L. S., Arcagni, A., Fattore, M., Maggino, F., & Quondamstefano, V. (forthcoming). Manuscript submitted for publication. In Measuring equitable and sustainable well-being in Italian regions. A non-aggregative approach. Social Indicators Research .

  • Bartley, M. (2004). Health inequalities: An introduction to theories, concepts and methods. International Journal of Epidemiology, 34(2), 500–502.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brickman, P., & Campbell, D. T. (1971). Hedonic relativism and planning the good society. In M. H. Apley (Ed.), Adaptation-level theory: A symposium. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, E. (2000a). The compact city: Just or just compact? A preliminary analysis. Urban studies, 37(11), 1969–2006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burton, E. (2000b). The potential of the compact city for promoting social equity. In J. Jenks (Ed.), Achieving sustainable urban form (pp. 19–29). New York: Taylor and Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, E., & Mitchell, L. (2006). Inclusive urban design: Streets for life. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Csardi, G., & Nepusz, T. (2006). The igraph software package for complex network research. InterJournal Complex Systems, 1695, 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darlow, A. (1996). Cultural policy and urban sustainability: Making a missing link? Planning Practice and Research, 11(3), 291–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davey, B. A., & Priestley, H. A. (2002). Introduction to lattices and order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dempsey, N. (2006). The Influence of the quality of the built environment on social cohesion in English neighborhoods (Doctoral dissertation). Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.

  • Dempsey, N. (2008). Quality of the built environment in urban neighbourhoods. Planning, Practice and Research, 23(2), 249–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Urso, P. (2000). Classificazione fuzzy per matrici a tre vie temporali. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome.

  • Easterlin, R. A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In P. A. David & M. W. Reder (Eds.), Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in honor of moses abramovitz (pp. 89–125). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (2001). Income and happiness: Towards a unified theory. The Economic Journal, 111(473), 465–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eid, M., & Larsen, R. J. (2008). The science of subjective well-being. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmons, R. A., & Diener, E. (1985). Personality correlates of subjective well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 11(1), 89–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fattore, M. (2016). Partially ordered sets and the measurement of multidimensional ordinal deprivation. Social Indicators Research, 128(2), 835–858. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-1059-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fattore, M. (2017). Synthesis of indicators: The non-aggregative approach. In F. Maggino (Ed.), Complexity in society: From indicators construction to their synthesis (pp. 193–212). Cham: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fattore, M. (2018). Non-aggregated indicators of environmental sustainability. Silesian Statistical Review/Slaski Przeglad Statystyczny, 16(22), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.15611/sps.2018.16.01.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fattore, M., & Arcagni, A. (2014). PARSEC: An R Package for poset-based evaluation of multidimensional poverty. In R. Bruggemann, L. Carlsen, & J. Wittmann (Eds.), Multi-indicator systems and modelling in partial order (pp. 317–330). New York, NY: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fattore, M., Arcagni, A., & Maggino, F. (2019). Optimal scoring of partially ordered data, with an application to the ranking of smart cities. In G. Arbia, S. Peluso, A. Pini, & G. Rivellini (Eds.), SIS 2019: Smart statistics for smart applications (pp. 855–860). Milano: Pearson. Società Italiana di Statistica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrán, J. J., & Alvarez, J. C. (2003). Para Fundamentar la Bioética: Teorías y Paradigmas Teóricos en la Bioética Contemporánea. Bilbao: Universidad Pontificia Comillas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forrest, R., & Kearns, A. (2001). Social cohesion, social capital and the neighbourhood. Urban Studies, 38(12), 2125–2143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, R. H. (2005). Positional externalities cause large and preventable welfare losses. American Economic Review, 95(2), 137–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabaldón, A. J., & Aguilera, M. (2008). Bioethical dimensions of sustainable development. In E. N. Laboy-Nieves, F. Schaffner, A. Abdelhadi, & M. F. A. Goosen (Eds.), Environmental management, sustainable development and human health (pp. 59–65). London: Taylor & Francis Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goosen, M. F. A., Laboy-Nieves, E. N., Schaffner, F. C., & Abdelhadi, A. H. (2008). The environment, sustainable development and human well-being: An overview. In E. N. Laboy-Nieves, F. Schaffner, A. Abdelhadi, & M. F. A. Goosen (Eds.), Environmental management, sustainable development and human health (pp. 3–11). London: Taylor & Francis Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griessler, E., & Littig, B. (2005). Social sustainability: A catchword between political pragmatism and social theory. International Journal for Sustainable Development, 8(1/2), 65–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haapanen, L., & Tapio, P. (2016). Economic growth as phenomenon, institution and ideology: A qualitative content analysis of the 21st century growth critique. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, 3492–3503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Healey, P. (1997). Collaborative planning: Shaping places in fragmented societies. Basingstoke: Macmillan International Higher Education.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hopwood, B., Mellor, M., & O’Brien, G. (2005). Sustainable development: Mapping different approaches. Sustainable Development, 13(1), 38–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ivaldi, E., Bonatti, G., & Soliani, R. (2018). Objective and subjective health: an analysis of inequality for the European Union. Social Indicators Research, 138(3), 1279–1295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, T. (2009). Prosperity without growth: Economics for a finite planet. London: Earthscan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kendall, M. G. (1938). A new measure of rank correlation. Biometrika, 30(1/2), 81–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laboy-Nieves, E. N. (2008). Ética y Sustentabilidad a Ambiental en Puerto Rico. In Actas del Foro Internacional de Recursos Hídricos (pp. 63–74). INDRHI - República Dominicana.

  • Larsen, R. J., & Prizmic-Larsen, Z. (2006). Multimethod measurement of emotion. In M. Eid & E. Diener (Eds.), Handbook of multimethod measurement in psychology (pp. 337–352). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Latouche, S. (2009). Farewell to growth: Translated by David Macey. Sustainability; Science, Practice, & Policy, 6(2), 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. C. (2005). Fundamental sources of health inequalities. In D. C. Colby, D. Mechanic, & L. B. Rogut (Eds.), Policy challenges in modern health care (pp. 71–84). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maggino, F. (2017). Developing indicators and managing the complexity. In F. Maggino (Ed.), Complexity in society: From indicators construction to their synthesis (pp. 87–114). Cham: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Marmot, M., & Wilkinson, R. G. (2003). Social determinants of health: The solid facts. Copenhagen: World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazziotta, M., & Pareto, A. (2017). Synthesis of indicators: The composite indicators approach. In F. Maggino (Ed.), Complexity in society: From indicators construction to their synthesis (pp. 159–191). Cham: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Michalos, A. C. (1985). Multiple discrepancies theory (MDT). Social Indicators Research, 16(4), 347–413.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakazawa, M. (2014). fmsb: Functions for medical statistics book with some demographic data. R package version 0.5, 2.

  • Nardo, M., Saisana, M., Saltelli, A., & Tarantola, S. (2005). Tools for composite indicators building. In European Commission. Ispra: Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, JRC.

  • Neggers, J., & Kim, H. S. (1998). Basic posets. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2008). Handbook on constructing composite indicators: Methodology and user guide. Paris: OECD Publications.

  • Omer, A. M. (2007). Energy, water and sustainable development. In B. Larson (Ed.), Sustainable development research advances (pp. 189–205). New York: Nova Science Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schröder, B. (2002). Ordered set: An introduction. Boston: Birkäuser.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seghieri, C., Desantis, G., & Tanturri, M. L. (2006). The richer, the happier? An empirical investigation in selected European countries. Social Indicators Research, 79(3), 455–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNGA. (2015). United Nations General Assembly, 70 session. In Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

  • Veenhoven, R. (2013). Conditions of happiness. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R., Ehrhardt, J., Ho, M. S. D., & de Vries, A. (1993). Happiness in nations: Subjective appreciation of life in 56 nations 1946–1992. Rotterdam: Erasmus University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Victor, P. A. (2008). Managing without growth: Slower by design, not disaster. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • WCED. (1987). United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. The Brundtland Report: Our Common Future.

  • Wickham, H. (2016). ggplot2: Elegant graphics for data analysis. Cham: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Winter, J., & Farthing, S. (1997). Coordinating facility provision and new housing development: impacts on car and local facility use. In S. Farthing (Ed.), Evaluating local environmental policy (pp. 159–179). Aldershot: Avebury Studies in Green Research.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Leonardo Salvatore Alaimo

  2. Italian National Institute of Statistics - Istat, Rome, Italy

    Leonardo Salvatore Alaimo

  3. Department of Political Science, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Andrea Ciacci & Enrico Ivaldi

  4. Centro de Investigaciones en Econometría, CIE University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Enrico Ivaldi

Authors
  1. Leonardo Salvatore Alaimo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrea Ciacci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Enrico Ivaldi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leonardo Salvatore Alaimo.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Although this paper should be considered the result of the common work of the three authors, Andrea Ciacci and Enrico Ivaldi have mainly written sections 1, 2 and 5 and Leonardo Salvatore Alaimo sections 3 and 4.

Appendix

Appendix

See the Table 3.

Table 3 European countries: code and full names
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Alaimo, L.S., Ciacci, A. & Ivaldi, E. Measuring Sustainable Development by Non-aggregative Approach. Soc Indic Res 157, 101–122 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02357-0

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02357-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation