The Human Development Index. Vani Borooah University of Ulster September 2007

Transcription

1 The Human Development Index Vani Borooah University of Ulster September 2007

2 Origins The HDI is used to compare the development outcomes in countries and it is an alternative to the per capita income measure It originated in 1990 due to two economists: Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen It had three conceptual bases: It should reflect human capabilities It should be simple and manageable It should be a composite index

3 Methodology The HDI is an evaluation of development outcomes and, so, it focuses on Education Health Command over resources Health is measured by life expectancy at birth Education is measured by (i) adult literacy rates; (ii) school enrolment rates Resources is measured by per-capita income

4 Construction For each dimension, minimum and maximum values are established Longevity: years Literacy and Enrolment: Per-capita Income: US$100-40,000 per year Dimension Index (DI) is: [Actual-Min]/[Max-Min] HDI = Average of Dimensions

5 Interpretation HDI takes a value between 0 and 1. So, HDI is the fraction of ultimate development. >0.8 means high human development countries means medium human development countries <0.5 means low human development countries

6 Critique The HDI s success is due to its simplicity. That is also its failing It simplifies the complexity of human development to just three dimensions In so doing, it ignores: Political and social freedom Gender inequality

7 GDP and HDI rankings The rankings of the various countries in terms of their per-capita GDP and their HDI index can often be very different. If one defines X as the difference between a country s GDP rank and its HDI rank, then as UNDP (2000) shows, X is significantly non-zero for several countries. For example, X=13 for the UK (implying that the UK s HDI ranking was 13 places higher than its GDP ranking) while X=-16 for Luxembourg (implying that Luxembourg s HDI ranking was 16 places lower than its GDP ranking).

8 Inequality Anand and Sen (1997) compared the Honduras (with an average literacy rate of 75%, distributed between men and women as 78%, 73%) with China (with an average literacy rate of 80%, distributed between men and women as 92%, 68%) They asked which country should be regarded as having the "better" achievement with regard to literacy: China with a higher overall rate or the Honduras with greater gender equality?

9 Social Welfare Conceptually, one country has a bigger cake, but it is divided unequally The other country has a smaller cake, but it is divided (more) equally Suppose W represents social welfare, Y represents per-capita income and I is a measure of inequality, 0 I 1 Then W = Y(1-I)

10 Forms of Gender Inequality Existence and Survival Missing Women problem Literacy and education Employment (especially in the formal sector) Wage rates and earnings Political participation Legal rights in marriage and inheritance Command over property

11 Existence Evidence from India shows that parents increasingly resort to foetal sex-determination tests followed by selective abortion of the female foetus We know that the incidence of foeticide rises with prosperity as parents become richer they want fewer children but they want the same number of male children because of son preference So, a falling fertility rate is a mixed blessing for women mothers have fewer children, but fewer girls are born

12 Survival One feature of underdevelopment is high infant and child mortality rates in India IMR is 68 per 1,000 births and CMR is 95 per 1,000. It should be in single figures Children die because of: Bio-demographic factors maternal age, parity, birth spacing Environmental contamination pollution, bad domestic hygiene, poor public sanitation and water Inadequate medical treatment: curative and preventive: only 42% of children were fully vaccinated Girls suffer discrimination in two survival factors: food allocation and in health care with the latter being more important.

13 Consequences of Gender Inequality Female malnutrition the foetal origins of ill-health Female illiteracy high fertility rates Female illiteracy high IMR and CMR Literate mothers will: Follow better feeding practice for children Practice better domestic hygiene Be more aware of preventing and treating disease Seek prompt medical attention for a sick child Be confident in dealing with doctors

14 Democracy and Development Supporters of democracy argue that democracy and development are separate and non-competing goals one can have both Detractors mainly drawing upon the East Asian experience argue that they are competing goals: do you want democracy or development? India used to held as an example of democracy inhibiting development South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and, now, China all developed without democratic governance or political liberties Governments cannot take the tough decisions needed for development in a democratic structure

15 What is Development? Political freedom should be seen as a part of development and not judged by its efficacy in attaining development Political freedom gives voice to the poor and dispossessed famines have only occurred in nondemocratic countries Under colonial rule (India, Ireland) Under one-party states (Soviet Union in the 1930s, China in , Cambodia, North Korea Under military dictatorships Ethiopia and Somalia

16 British Colonial Rule and Famines British colonial rule presided over some of the worst famines in the history of India and Ireland British revenue policy in the colonies was rapacious and impoverished the peasantry This meant that any fall in food supply raised food prices and made it impossible for the poor to buy food When famine occurred, the British government adopted a policy of non-intervention: leave it to the market In fact, avoiding famine requires active intervention Importing food Public works