The search for alternative indicators of development has witnessedthe development of a variety of composite indices of development. Theseindices integrate various social, political and economic aspects ofdevelopment in measurement. This paper presents an overview andevaluation of composite indices of development in terms of certain broaddimensions of measurement. In terms of method and technique, compositeindices are generally additive ones with equally weighted componentsconsisting of variables selected in an ad hoc manner. Numerouscriticisms have been leveled at these methods employed in compositeindexing. Composite indices are mainly quantitative insofar as theindices are all presented in numerical format. Composite indices aresubject to subjectivity despite the relative objectivity of the methodsemployed in composite indexing. Composite indices are of a cardinalnature, but remain ordinal insofar as differences in index values cannotbe interpreted meaningfully. The multidimensionality of compositeindices represents one of their main advantages. Indices representaggregate measures of a combination of complex development phenomena.The comparative application of composite indices of development overspace and time remains problematic. Composite indices generally combinemeasures of ends and means. In respect of method and technique,composite indexing is relatively complex. Composite indices arerelatively flexible, because changes in selection, scaling, weightingand aggregation can be effected readily, albeit at the cost ofcomparability. Composite indices perform relatively well in terms ofcross-national availability, but few indices perform well in terms ofinter-temporal availability. On the strength of the systematic positiveassociation between income and popular composite indices such as theHDI, many have claimed that these indices represent no real contributionto the literature on indicators research. Composite indices,furthermore, are often considered to be ideological statements ratherthan practically functional indicators. Yet, composite indices representuseful supplements to income-based development indicators. These indicesremain invaluable in terms of their ability to simplify complexmeasurement constructs, to focus attention and to catch the eye, thusenhancing their political appeal.

An overview and evaluation of composite indices of development

http://www1.geo.ntnu.edu.tw/~moise/Data/Books/Social/06%20social%20security/uban%20environmental%20quality%20and%20human%20wellbeing.pdf

Urban environmental quality and human wellbeing—a social geographical perspective

Indicators of development: The search for a basic needs yardstick

One of the aims of social indicator research is to develop a comprehensive measure of quality-of-life in nations that is analogous to GNP in economic indicator research. For that purpose, several multi dimensional indexes have been proposed. In addition to economic performance, these also acknowledge the nation's success in matters like schooling and social equality. The most current indicator of this type is the ‘Human Development Index’. In this approach QOL is measured by input; the degree to which society provides conditions deemed beneficial (‘presumed’ QOL). The basic problem is that one never knows to what extent the cherished provisions are really good for people. An alternative is measuring QOL in nations by output, and consider how well people actually flourish in the country. This ‘apparent’ QOL can be measured by the degree to which citizens live long and happily. This conception is operationalized by combining registration based estimates of length-of-life, with survey data on subjective appreciation-of-life. Life-expectancy in years is multiplied by average happiness on a 0–1 scale. The product is named ‘Happy Life-Expectancy’ (HLE), and can be interpreted as the number of years the average citizen in a country lives happily at a certain time. HLE was assessed in 48 nations in the early 1990's. It appears to be highest in North-West European nations (about 60) and lowest in Africa (below 35). HLE scores are systematically higher in nations that are most affluent, free, educated, and tolerant. Together, these country-characteristics explain 70% of the statistical variance in HLE. Yet HLE is not significantly related to unemployment, state welfare and income equality, nor to religiousness and trust in institutions. HLE does not differ either with military dominance and population pressure. The conclusion is that HLE qualifies as the envisioned comprehensive social indicator. It has both clear substantive meaning (happy life-years) and theoretical significance (ultimate output measure). HLE differentiates well. Its correlations fit most assumptions about required input, but also challenge some. The indicator is likely to have political appeal.

/pdf/happy-life-expectancy-a-comprehensive-measure-of-quality-of-33mk40w8y5.pdf

Happy life-expectancy. A comprehensive measure of quality-of-life in nations

https://www.ophi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Mc-Gillivray-1991.pdf

The Human Development Index: Yet Another Redundant Composite Development Indicator?

The level of living index

On Measuring and Planning the Quality of Life

Poverty: Its Meaning and Measurement

Summary The impossibility of measuring social conditions as one overall aggregate has to be recognized: it is only the three distinct ‘'aspects’ of social conditions which can be considered conceptually measurable. They are: (1) demography (2) social relations and (3) welfare. Each of them must be measured in its own way. This paper is concerned with elaborating a methodology of measuring welfare by means of indicators and indices, based on observable and measurable facts. Welfare indices are supposed to serve not only for assessing the results of development but also as targets for development plans.

Social indicators and welfare measurement: Remarks on methodology

T __HERE are queer traits in what is recognized today as the economic theory of socialism. Not only has it remained for a number of years in a stationary state which contrasts strangely with the dynamic growth in the number of descriptive works on socialist and particularly soviet economies, but also it takes an approach that is far from realistic and might even be termed utopian.2 Incredible as it may seem, the convictions of the authors, rather than the realities of socialist economics, are taken as the basis for theories. It can, of course, easily be explained why the economic theory of socialism started that way. When Pareto and, later, Barone discussed the working of the socialist state, no such state existed.3 They solved a theoretical problem and that was all they could do. Mises, as everybody agrees now, was wrong in his main contention that economic calculation under socialism is theoretically impossible, but he may be forgiven for not taking into account the realities of socialist economics, as he certainly could not have possessed sufficient data at that time about the actual economic problems of the Soviet Union and how they were being solved in practice.4 But strangely enough when the discussion of the problem was resumed in the thirties it continued along the same lines. In replying to the arguments of Hayek and Robbins concerning the practical impossibility of economic calculation in socialism, Lange put forward his celebrated proposal for the application of the trial and error procedure in socialist economics.5 This is a \"decentralized deci1 When this was written I was a guest of the Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as a Ford Foundation exchange professor. I wish, therefore, to express my thanks to the Foundation, which made my work possible, and to all those economists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with whom I had the opportunity to discuss many problems relevant to the subject of this paper. As it is impossible to give all their names here, I shall only say that my greatest debt is to Professor Paul N. Rosenstein-Rodan, from whom I received constant help and encouragement during my stay at M.I.T.

Jan Drewnowski

Papers

The level of living index

On Measuring and Planning the Quality of Life

Poverty: Its Meaning and Measurement

Social indicators and welfare measurement: Remarks on methodology

The Economic Theory of Socialism: A Suggestion for Reconsideration