Scribd
Upload
13 views14 pages

Lecture 15 - Human Development Index

Human development index

Uploaded by

Raheem Mohsin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
13 views14 pages

Lecture 15 - Human Development Index

Human development index

Uploaded by

Raheem Mohsin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 14

▪Development: As Objective

➢Improvement in incomes, increase in growth


➢Reduction in poverty , inequality, unemployment

▪Development: As a Process
➢All encompassing concept: multi-dimensional
process involving improvement in all spheres of
human life, economic, social, cultural and political
▪Increase in Economic Growth
➢ Adequate Income (increase in economic
output)---access to basic needs---food, shelter,
clothing etc.
➢ Distribution of income
▪Access to Education (Literacy Rate)
▪Access to Health Facilities
▪Participation in political process (Democracy)
▪National Independence (Sovereignty)
▪Belief since Aristotle
Income & Wealth… not ends
But tools to meet ends
▪Amartya Sen
Capability to Function
“Economic growth cannot be sensibly treated as an
end to itself. Development has to be concerned with
enhancing the lives we lead and the freedoms we
enjoy”
▪Central Idea
➢ Freedom of Choice
➢ Control over Life
“ The concept of functioning’s reflects the various
things a person may value doing or being. The valued
functionings may vary from elementary ones, such as
being adequately nourished and being free from
avoidable disease, to very complex activities or
personal states, such as being able to take part in life
of the community and having self-respect”.
Functioning depends on Capabilities

Capabilities
“The freedom that the person has in terms of choice
of functionings given his personal features and his
command over commodities”.
HDI emphasizes that people and their capabilities be the criteria for
assessing development of a country, not economic growth alone.

HDI uses to question national policy choices, asking how two


countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with
different human development outcomes. These contrasts can
stimulate debate about government policy priorities.

HDI is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions


of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable
and have a decent standard of living.

HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices for each of the three
dimensions.
▪ Health dimension is assessed by life expectancy at birth
▪ Education dimension is measured by mean of years of schooling for
adults aged 25 years and more and expected years of schooling for
children of school entering age

▪ Standard of living dimension is measured by gross national income per


capita

▪ HDI uses the logarithm of income, to reflect the diminishing


importance of income with increasing GNI

▪ Scores for the three HDI dimension indices are then aggregated into a
composite index using geometric mean
Source: UN Human Development Report Office
HDI simplifies and captures only part of what human
development entails. It does not reflect on
inequalities, poverty, human security
andempowerment

HDRO offers other composite indices as broader


proxy on some of the key issues of human
development, inequality, gender disparity and
poverty
Criticism
HDI has been criticized on a number of grounds:
➢Alleged lack of consideration of technological
development or contributions to the human civilization
➢Focusing exclusively on national performance and
ranking
➢ Lack of attention to development from a global
perspective
➢UNDP's changes in formula which can lead to severe
misclassification in the categorization of 'low', 'medium',
'high' or 'very high' human development countries
Nexus between human development and economic growth forms two
chains:

1. Human Development impacts on Economic Growth through


▪ Capabilities of entrepreneurs (managers, workers, farmers)
➢ organizations of production, R&D, technology imports and adoption
➢ composition of output and export
➢ foreign savings and domestic savings – physical capital stock and
addition to IT

▪ Additional contributing factors are


➢ social capital
➢ policy environment
➢ distribution of income
2.Economic growth (GNP) impacts on human development though
▪Government revenue and expenditure ratio
▪Social and priority ratios
▪School enrollment ratios
▪Health service coverage
▪Additional factors are
➢ social capital
➢ policy environment
➢ distribution of income
Source: Ranis,Stewart and Ramirez’s Economic Growth and Human Development

You might also like