1 / 25

Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences (E774): Review Session II

Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences (E774): Review Session II. Dany Jaimovich September 30, 2009. Plan for today. Re-review HDI Alternative indexes Do we need these indexes? The International Reports. Re-review. Our basic idea: Motivation vs Research question

inez-harmon
Download Presentation

Quantitative Methods in Social Sciences (E774): Review Session II

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Quantitative Methods inSocial Sciences (E774): Review Session II Dany Jaimovich September 30, 2009

  2. Plan for today • Re-review • HDI • Alternative indexes • Do we need these indexes? • The International Reports

  3. Re-review • Our basic idea: • Motivation vs Research question • Normative vs Positive questions

  4. Re-review • What is development? • How to measure development? • At what level? • How do we formulate research questions about development?

  5. Re-review • The MDG as development… • ◦Propaganda • ◦Critics … “The Road to Heaven is Paved with Good Intentions”

  6. Human Development Index(HDI) • Since 1990, one of the most recognized indicators of development. • A lot of publicity • Incentives comparison and “competition among countries” • Widely available, allowing cross-country comparisons…. But be careful!

  7. Human Development Index(HDI) • Pioneered by Mahbub ul Haq, is the core indicator elaborated by UNDP. • The foundations are based in Amartya Sen’s ideas: development as freedom and the capabilities approach (different from basic needs) • Provides a annual rank of countries according to the HDI.

  8. Human Development Index(HDI) • Based in three fundamental aspects of development: • Life expectancy at birth, as an index of population health and longevity • Knowledge and education, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weighting). • Standard of living, as measured by the natural logarithm of gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity.

  9. Human Development Index(HDI) • How to put this three variables together in one index? The original units are years, percentages and money…. • There is a need to STANDARDIZE: • x-index = • E.g, Life Expectacy=

  10. Human Development Index(HDI) • The final index is the simple average of the three components • Country categories: • >0.8, High Development • 0.5<HDI<0.79, Medium Development • <0.5, Low Development

  11. Human Development Index(HDI)

  12. Human Development Index(HDI)

  13. Human Development Index(HDI)

  14. Human Development Index(HDI) • How to define max and min?: • Relative to the sample • Relative to defined fixed values • Why to chose one of these options?

  15. Human Development Index(HDI) • How to incorporate GDP? • Log is very smooth: • GDPpc Luxembourg=$60000, log(GDPpc)=4.78 • GDPpc Malawi=$667, log(GDPpc)=2.83 • “GDPpc target” failed:

  16. Human Development Index(HDI) • Critics… • Why these three indicators and not others???.... Sustainability? HRs? Inequality? Consistency • Compensations: less education, but more income? • But… changes in methodology do not allow comparison in time. Data are consistent in cross-section but no in the time series. • Data quality… how reliable are national sources? • National Averages hide within country variation

  17. Alternative Indexes • An alternative index provided by UNDP is Human Poverty Index (HPI), aimed to measure poverty related issues. • There are two different for developed and developing countries:

  18. Alternative Indexes • HPI-1 = • P1: Probability at birth of not surviving to age 40 (times 100)P2: Adult illiteracy rateP3: Unweighted average of population without sustainable access to an improved water source and children under weight for ageα: 3

  19. Alternative Indexes • HPI-2 = • P1: Probability at birth of not surviving to age 60 (times 100)P2: Adults lacking functional literacy skillsP3: Population below income poverty line (50% of median adjusted household disposable income)P4: Rate of long-term unemployment (lasting 12 months or more)α: 3

  20. Alternative Indexes • Gender-related Development Index (GDI): HDI adjusted by gender differences. • The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) combines inequalities in three areas: • political participation and decision making • economic participation and decision making • power over economic resources.

  21. Alternative Indexes • The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a method of quantifying and numerically benchmarking the environmental performance of a country's policies.

  22. Alternative Indexes • The Gross National Happiness (GNH) index is generated to reflect the happiness and general well-being of the Bhutanese population more accurately and profoundly than a monetary measure: • 1.Psychological Well-being • 2.Time Use • 3.Community Vitality • 4.Culture • 5.Health • 6.   Education • 7.Environmental Diversity • 8.Living Standard • 9.Governance • GNH = 1- Average squared distance from cutoff

  23. Are those indexes useful??? • Cross-country analysis • Macro vs Micro (Meso) development • Right or perverse incentives?

  24. International Reports • HDR • WDR • IPES • UNCTAD

  25. International Reports • Sarkozy commision: • Summarize the critics to GDP • Right measurement: • Consider leisure. • General Production vs Household Consumption • Inequality: Joint Distribution of development indicators. Mean vs Median. • Susteinability.

More Related