Measuring Development

This bookdiscusseshow to measure the level of development of an economy, particularly,the task ofranking economies in termsof theirdevelopment.In this context, development isdefinedas an increasein people'slevel of wellbeing.Thebookemphasises that wellbeing is a multidimensionalconcept, and that it is important to ask how equitably the fruits of development are distributed,and as such it focuseson multidimensional, inequality-sensitive development ranking. Ratherthan using variousspecific development indices, which would lead to different development rankings fora country,the book proposesa dominance approach,which formulatesconditions under which two economies can be ranked unambiguously, making it valid forall reasonable development indices. With the help of illustrative examples usingreal-world data, it demonstratesthat such unambiguous rankings are possible, and that the proposed approach can be used to complement traditionalapproaches.An invaluable resource for researchers working in the field of development,the book willalso appeal topractitioners engaged in measuring development. An excerpt from the book's Foreword:"[This book] is a comprehensive and valuable contribution to the literature on themeasurement of inequality and the use of such measurement in the assessment of socialwelfare. I believe that it will be of much interest to researchers working on measures ofinequality and social welfare as well as advanced graduate students who are looking fora solid introduction to this important area of normative economics." - Prof. Prasanta K. Pattanaik, University of California, Riverside, California, U.S.A.