Measuring Welfare and Happiness The Human Development Index

Measuring Welfare and Measuring Welfare and HappinessHappiness

The Human Development IndexThe Human Development Index

Evelyn FuchsEvelyn FuchsJessica GattererJessica Gatterer

Nathalie HarlanderNathalie Harlander

IntroductionIntroduction

- United Nations Development Programme

(UNDP) in 1990

- Economists Mahbub ul Haq & Amartya Sen

developed a simple measurement method to

evaluate development not only by economic

advances but also improvements in human well-

being.

UmweltsystemwissenschaftenKarl-Franzens-Universität

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Human Development Report (HDR)Human Development Report (HDR)

- Indicator for countries all over the world

- Human Development Report is published by the

UNDP every year- “Human development is concerned with what I take to be the basic

development idea: advancing the richness of human life, rather than

the richness of the economy in which human beings live, which is

only part of it.” (Amartya Sen, Human Development Measurement:

A broader approach in India, 2010:9).

UmweltsystemwissenschaftenKarl-Franzens-Universität

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Topics discussed in the HDRTopics discussed in the HDR

- Social progress

- Economics

- Efficiency

- Participation and Freedom

- Sustainability

- Human Security

UmweltsystemwissenschaftenKarl-Franzens-Universität

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Human Development Index (HDI)Human Development Index (HDI)

- Summary measure of Human Development

- Three dimensions of Human Development:

- Life expectancy at birth (population & longevity)

- Knowledge and education

- Standard of living (Gross domestic product per capita

at purchasing power parity)

UmweltsystemwissenschaftenKarl-Franzens-Universität

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Critical View – HDICritical View – HDI

+ good package of indices at a very aggregate level and

especially in relation to the multidimensional aspects

of human development.

- Distorted picture of the world: it ignores the

environmental dimensions of development, especially

the relationships between the performance of

countries on the environmental and human

development dimensions

UmweltsystemwissenschaftenKarl-Franzens-Universität

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Video for Human DevelopmentVideo for Human Development

YouTube - Human Development Report 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIbkPPkuKno

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Thank you for your attention!!! Thank you for your attention!!!

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