Thanks MichaelStJules, this is not a one day phenomenon, it is a long term trend encompassing significant fraction of world population over a 50+ year timeframe. So its worth thinking about why that is the case, I am not entirely sure either, Pakistan with its focus on military has done worse even though they were richer at independence, India has done better because it is more democratic? Bangladesh is an unusual case, they becaume independent 20+ years ater India, they caught up, overtook india with an economy that is consistently worse than India. So what social policies caused this? That is a question worth asking.
Amartya Sen compares income, health, education indices quite extensively in his book “Hunger and Public Action”, and “An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions”
No cherry picking, I am following ideas and methods used by the best in the field of human development.
(Hunger and Public action will be available online in 10 days, it will become open access)
We should definitely look at other policies, too. I agree. For developing countries, economic growth is still often crucial, since they need money to pay for things like social welfare and healthcare. I think an emphasis economic growth for developing countries is justified, although not necessarily to overshadow all other concerns.
Thanks for the conversation. One problem with single (health) indicators as those determinant of the absolute ‘development’ of a nation is that these can be targeted by leaders who aim for increased financial assistance by other nations (see example of President Kagame of Rwanda “‘farming’ Rwandan children”).
Thus, broader indices (which take into account income, health, education, equality, governance, and other indicators), such as the Human Development Index, may be better than solely health or solely economic indicators.
Is it something that Sen argues? Or, what perspective does she have on development indicators? Also, what do you think of the Gross National Happiness Index?
Sen was an influence in the creation of HDI, yet he was somewhat hesitant to use one index to summarize human well being. Hunger and Public Action has a set of indicators that Sen looked in 1989 (HPA was published at that time). Other indicators to think about are MDG goals and SDG goals. Not all of the goals are equally important, but they point in the right direction, we should think about them.
The indicators that I look at to tell the state of society
U5MR Under 5 mortality Rate
TFR Total fertility rate
Expected education levels for school age kids below age 18.
Gender disparities in 3) above
I have given very little thought to Gross National Happiness Index, it looks like an expanded/altered version of HDI
Thanks MichaelStJules, this is not a one day phenomenon, it is a long term trend encompassing significant fraction of world population over a 50+ year timeframe. So its worth thinking about why that is the case, I am not entirely sure either, Pakistan with its focus on military has done worse even though they were richer at independence, India has done better because it is more democratic? Bangladesh is an unusual case, they becaume independent 20+ years ater India, they caught up, overtook india with an economy that is consistently worse than India. So what social policies caused this? That is a question worth asking.
USA spends twice the money and in ranked lower. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy-vs-health-expenditure Social policies in other rich countries esp universal healthcare makes the difference?
Amartya Sen compares income, health, education indices quite extensively in his book “Hunger and Public Action”, and “An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions”
No cherry picking, I am following ideas and methods used by the best in the field of human development.
(Hunger and Public action will be available online in 10 days, it will become open access)
We should definitely look at other policies, too. I agree. For developing countries, economic growth is still often crucial, since they need money to pay for things like social welfare and healthcare. I think an emphasis economic growth for developing countries is justified, although not necessarily to overshadow all other concerns.
Hi!
Thanks for the conversation. One problem with single (health) indicators as those determinant of the absolute ‘development’ of a nation is that these can be targeted by leaders who aim for increased financial assistance by other nations (see example of President Kagame of Rwanda “‘farming’ Rwandan children”).
Thus, broader indices (which take into account income, health, education, equality, governance, and other indicators), such as the Human Development Index, may be better than solely health or solely economic indicators.
Is it something that Sen argues? Or, what perspective does she have on development indicators? Also, what do you think of the Gross National Happiness Index?
Sen was an influence in the creation of HDI, yet he was somewhat hesitant to use one index to summarize human well being. Hunger and Public Action has a set of indicators that Sen looked in 1989 (HPA was published at that time). Other indicators to think about are MDG goals and SDG goals. Not all of the goals are equally important, but they point in the right direction, we should think about them.
The indicators that I look at to tell the state of society
U5MR Under 5 mortality Rate
TFR Total fertility rate
Expected education levels for school age kids below age 18.
Gender disparities in 3) above
I have given very little thought to Gross National Happiness Index, it looks like an expanded/altered version of HDI
Hello Lucy,
Thank you for the reply!
These indicators are for sure important!