Measuring Development

An Inequality Dominance Approach
1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-981-15-6163-4
Verlag: Springer Nature Singapore

Buch, Englisch, 230 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 388 g

Reihe: Themes in Economics

This book discusses how to measure the level of development of an economy, particularly, the task of ranking economies in terms of their development. In this context, development is defined as an increase in people’s level of wellbeing. The book emphasises that wellbeing is a multidimensional concept, and that it is important to ask how equitably the fruits of development are distributed, and as such it focuses on multidimensional, inequality-sensitive development ranking. Rather than using various specific development indices, which would lead to different development rankings for a country, the book proposes a dominance approach, which formulates conditions under which two economies can be ranked unambiguously, making it valid for all reasonable development indices. With the help of illustrative examples using real-world data, it demonstrates that such unambiguous rankings are possible, and that the proposed approach can be used to complement traditional approaches. An invaluable resource for researchers working in the field of development, the book will also appeal to practitioners engaged in measuring development.

An excerpt from the book's Foreword:"[This book] is a comprehensive and valuable contribution to the literature on the measurement of inequality and the use of such measurement in the assessment of social welfare. I believe that it will be of much interest to researchers working on measures of inequality and social welfare as well as advanced graduate students who are looking for a solid introduction to this important area of normative economics."
-          Prof. Prasanta K. Pattanaik, University of California, Riverside, California, U.S.A.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Banerjee, Asis Kumar

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Wirtschaftswachstum
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Entwicklungsökonomie & Emerging Markets

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1: Introduction   

                     1.1: Plan of the chapter

                     1.2: Types of measures

                     1.3: Alternative notions of development

                     1.4: Choice of functionings, their observable indicators and relative weights

                     1.5: A dominance approach

                     1.6: Conclusion: Chapter summary and a preview of the rest of the book 

Chapter 2: Towards an Inequality-Sensitive Measure of Development:

                   The Unidimensional Case   

                     2.1: Introduction to the chapter

                     2.2: Measuring inequality

                     2.3: Back to the measurement of development

                     2.4: Concluding remarks     

Chapter 3:  Unidimensional Development Ranking and Fuzzy Lorenz

                    Dominance

                     3.1: Introduction to the chapter

                     3.2: Fixed mean comparisons

                     3.3: The general case: Variable mean income

                     3.4: Conclusion

Chapter 4: Illustrative Applications of Unidimensional Development Indices

                     4.1: Introduction to the chapter

                     4.2: Household consumption expenditure in India

                     4.3: Household wealth in India

                     4.4: An international cross-section perspective: Household wealth in BRICS

                            countries

                     4.5: Conclusion

Chapter 5: Multidimensional Lorenz dominance

                     5.1: Introduction to the chapter

                     5.2: Notations, definitions etc.

                     5.3: “Candidate” Lorenz dominance elations

                     5.4: A class of multidimensional Lorenz dominance relations

                     5.5: Conclusion   

Chapter 6: Multidimensional Inequality-Sensitive Development Ranking

                 6.1: Introduction to the chapter

                     6.2: Notations

                     6.3: Conditions on a multidimensional inequality-sensitive development index

                            6.3.1: Non-equity conditions

                            6.3.2: Equity conditions

                     6.4: Development ranking

                     6.5: Incompleteness revisited: A partial solution

                     6.6: Conclusion

Appendix to Chapter 6: Multidimensional Inequality Indices:

                                         A Unifying Approach

                     6.A.1: Normatively significant multidimensional inequality indices     

                     6.A.2: Multidimensional versions of specific unidimensional inequality indices

                                6.A.2(a): Multidimensional Gini index

                                6.A.2(b): Multidimensional coefficient of variation and multidimensional

                                                generalised entropy indices 

                                6.A.2(c): Other multidimensional inequality indices

                     6.A.3: Conclusion

 

Chapter 7:  An Illustration: Multidimensional Development and Inter-State

                     Inequality in India in the 2000s

                 7.1: Introduction to the chapter

                     7.2: Units of observation: The states of India

                     7.3: The dimensions

                     7.4: What do we expect a priori?

                     7.5: The data

                     7.6: Development ranking

                     7.7:  Conclusion

Chapter 8: Overview and Concluding Remarks

                 8.1: Overview 

                     8.2: Other ranking rules

                            8.2.1: Human Development Index

                            8.2.2: Better Life Index

                            8.2.3: Some other indices in the academic literature                      8.3: Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Asis Kumar Banerjee is a former Vice-Chancellor and a former Professor of Economics at the University of Calcutta. He holds an M.A. in Economics from the same university, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Johns Hopkins University. He has been associated with Presidency College, Calcutta; the Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi; and the University of California, Riverside, California. His research interests include welfare economics, game theory and economic development.