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Multiple organizations and institutions have been resorting to indicators on diverse aspects of culture (e.g., creativity, social cohesion, cultural vitality, economic participation), according to their particular purposes and views of what is to be measured. This paper presents results from a research report of a qualitative study that analyzed 35 papers on cultural indicators found via Internet, based on four categories: purpose, assumptions about culture, concept of culture they sustain, and dimensions of indicators considered. Results show that even when the importance of culture is widely recognized in the papers, most of them propose indicators without having solid theoretical foundations, and with an emphasis on the relation between culture and economy. Also, most of the documents do not have a definition of culture or present an instrumental conceptualization of it, where culture is valued not as an end in itself but as a resource than can serve to development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a methodological framework to better incorporate non-labour income into existing top adjusted indicators of economic inequality. Surveys are known to miss the rich, receiving disproportionate amounts of capital income. There has been a surge in top harmonisation methodologies, which complement survey-based estimates of inequality with information from the rich reported in tax administrative sources. These harmonisation methods are found to have a significant upward effect on inequality indicators. This analysis uses the Family Resources Survey (household survey) and the Survey of Personal Incomes (tax data) to explore the extent to which existing UK harmonisation methodology corrects for capital income. First, this analysis finds that the FRS has experienced a significant decline in capital income measurement over the past 20 years (1997–2016), taking reported levels of capital income in the SPI as benchmark. Second, the top harmonisation methodology is found to only partially correct for this decline. Third, in response, the paper proposes a multi-step capital income correction to allocate the remaining capital income missing from top adjusted inequality indicators. The adjustment accounts for both under-coverage and under-estimation error of capital income across the income distribution. Poor measurement of capital incomes in household surveys has long been acknowledged but attempts to correct for this have remained few. This paper highlights the need for decomposable top adjusted indicators of inequality to give a better picture of the role of capital incomes in driving inequality. Surveys are traditionally used to produce inequality indicators used by governments, statistical offices and policy makers. The policy implication is that income missing from indicators structurally falls out of inequality debates, which has arguably been the case for capital incomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have long had difficulties when dealing with cross-time and cross-boundary issues in the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) and Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). This case study for Belgium is the very first that tackles these complexities by calculating two ISEW-variants with distinct time and boundary perspectives that are based on Fisherian or Hicksian income. Experiential welfare looks at what is currently experienced within domestic borders, whereas the benefits and costs of present activities also include the welfare impacts shifted in time and space. The former construct only registers present ecological costs within borders and does not include capital changes, while the latter includes capital changes and ecological cost-shifting. As we find substantial ecological cost-shifting, we suggest to move forward with the latter concept. Next, the paper introduces a number of advances to the ISEW-methodology. These include the introduction of a sufficiency threshold for consumption expenditures when accounting for the diminishing marginal utility of income, the adoption of a consumption footprint view for the emissions embodied in trade with an additional focus on the climate impacts of aviation and shipping and the inclusion of the shadow economy. Finally, we propose to look beyond the aggregate ISEW and adopt a disaggregated approach to evaluate economic performance in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we construct an illustrative multidimensional poverty index for China and compare it with income poverty using the panel data from multiple waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey. We use first order stochastic dominance method and regression analysis to test the stability of multidimensional poverty measures and probe the often-observed mis-match between multidimensional measures and income measures. We find as expected that China's multidimensional poverty is significantly higher in rural areas and in the less developed western provinces. But relative to the income poverty, the multidimensional poverty is less volatile. Also, the ranking of provinces by income and multidimensional poverty varies. The multidimensional poverty measures are somewhat sensitive to the large change of weight, but if we control the indicators' weight, then the multidimensional poverty measures are stable to a change of indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, financial well-being has received considerable attention from researchers and policymakers as an indicator of financial health in the aftermath of financial shocks. Additionally, financial inclusion has been a priority for developing countries in their efforts towards poverty alleviation and bringing vulnerable populations into the mainstream financial system. Moreover, the shift in digital technologies and financial services has overcome access and usage barriers through the acquisition of digital financial literacy. This paper develops novel multidimensional indices and investigates the relationship between financial well-being, financial inclusion, and digital financial literacy. The study utilizes data from InterMedia's Financial Inclusion Insight (FII) 2016 Survey conducted in India. The results indicate that both financial inclusion and digital financial literacy have a significant positive impact on financial well-being. However, considering the potential endogeneity bias, instrumental variable 2SLS regression reveals that financial inclusion plays the most crucial role in defining financial well-being. Our findings help policymakers recognize the importance of demand-side financial inclusion and digital financial literacy in promoting financial well-being, which may be achieved through robust financial and digital literacy programs. Additionally, the study contributes to the financial well-being literature by incorporating essential attributes of financial inclusion and digital financial literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women’s empowerment is an intrinsic human rights goal that has implications for the health and well-being of women and their children. Poor measurement hampers current research efforts, and improving empowerment measurement is a frequently identified research priority. However, a discussion of specific steps researchers can take to improve upon common measurement practices is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to provide quantitative researchers recommendations to measure women’s empowerment in a theory-based, precise, and comprehensive way. This paper reviewed key theoretical concepts of women’s empowerment and critically reviewed common measurement approaches. Three broad recommendations for measuring empowerment emerged from this critical review, and specific suggestions to meet these recommendations are discussed. First, researchers should draw upon theory to construct measurement models (e.g., using theory to construct dimensions of empowerment and selection of indicators). Second, researchers should use analytic methods that minimize implicit judgments and bias (e.g., not classifying women as empowered using specific criteria). Third, researchers should collect comprehensive empowerment information (e.g., supplementing quantitative measures with qualitative interviews to learn how and why changes took place). Measuring empowerment poses a number of challenges, and this review provides researchers suggestions to improve upon common measurement practices. Improved measurement will strengthen research efforts on the causes and consequences of poor empowerment, which has the potential to improve the well-being of women and their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In comparative welfare state research, the question of how to measure and understand cross-country differences and similarities in extents of public welfare provision has led to a major discussion about the indicators that could be used for this purpose. Much scholarly attention approaching this so-called ‘dependent variable problem’ concentrates on social expenditure or on social rights data as indicators of ‘welfare stateness’ or ‘welfare generosity’. However, recently, micro-level data on benefit receipt as another promising but hitherto underused indicator was brought into this discussion. The article at hand extends existing knowledge about the conceptual, methodological and empirical potentials and challenges of this alternative indicator compared to the two prevailing indicators. For the empirical analysis, it uses cash benefit recipiency data from the EU-SILC to investigate differences and similarities in extents of public welfare provision between 29 European countries for the period 2003-2012. The study reveals parallels to findings from research in which indicators of social expenditure and social rights are applied, but it also adds new insights beyond their cost and paper reality. This is mainly the case where priority is given to household-related assistance benefits rather than individual insurance benefits. The main conclusion of the paper is that the benefit recipiency indicator—despite not being flawless and requiring further research—complements existing knowledge on differences and similarities in welfare provision by European welfare states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a response to the article entitled “Fifty years after the Social Indicators Movement: Has the promise been fulfilled?” by Ken Land and Alex Michalos (2015) which constitutes a careful review of the historical development of the Social Indicators Movement, utility of social indicators in shaping the concept of quality of life and subjective well-being, and issues deserving social indicators research in future. In this response paper, we join in the discussion by highlighting five issues—progress, paradigms, puzzles, promise, and potential research directions of social indicators research. In terms of progress, while we have accomplished many tasks proposed by Solomon et al. (The quality of life, Sage, London 1980), some of them are yet to be achieved. Regarding research paradigms surrounding social indicators, researchers have primarily used positivistic or post-positivistic orientation to conduct and interpret social indicators research, with relatively fewer studies using interpretive, constructionist or critical theory perspective. There are also several puzzles deserving consideration. These include (a) the use of “other types of evidence”, particularly qualitative data; (b) evaluation of social programs; (c) feasibility of assessing “social progress”; (d) choice of social indicators; (e) interpretation of findings; (f) methodological debates; and (g) explanations for social change. Finally, the promise of social indicators research to promote quality of life and potential future research directions of social indicators research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a strategy to measure economic insecurity in countries in the Global South. It builds a 'Multidimensional Economic Insecurity Index' (MEII) that combines four indicators of economic vulnerability that cause stress and anxiety: unexpected economic shocks, unprotected employment or non-workers in the household, over-indebtedness and asset poverty. The index offers a measure that directly relates economic uncertainty to stress and anxiety due to the lack of protection and buffers to face an unexpected economic shock. The MEII is applied to Chile using Survey of Household Finances (SHF) cross-sectional data (2007, 2011, 2014 and 2017). The results show that (i) about half of the Chilean households experienced, on average, two or more economic vulnerabilities during the last decade with an intensity of 2.3 vulnerabilities, and (ii) economic insecurity affects households on the entire income distribution, even in the highest income deciles groups. By identifying the groups of households most affected by economic insecurity and its trend in recent years, applying the MEII in countries such as Chile provides relevant information to monitor, evaluate and improve social safety nets besides labour market regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse dynamically the three indicators of poverty and social exclusion covered by the EU2020 poverty target, while focusing on state dependence and feedback effects. We are interested in learning the extent to which the fact of being at risk of poverty, severe material deprivation or low work intensity in a given year is related to having the same status one year on, and whether being at risk in one domain in one year is a predictor of being at risk in one of the other domains in subsequent years. Our results are based on data from the EU-SILC for eight countries and indicate that the three social indicators of the EU2020 strategy capture different aspects of economic hardship in the majority of European countries analysed. We show that the three phenomena are affected by a considerable degree of genuine state dependence, but there is weak evidence for one-year lagged feedback effects-apart from in Hungary and Poland, where feedback loops between the three segments are to be found. Mostly, interrelationships occur at the same point in time via current effects, initial conditions and correlated unobserved heterogeneity. In terms of policy implications, our results suggest that the three phenomena should be addressed by different interventions while it is expected that spill-over effects across time will be marginal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the relationship between financial development, quality of institutions and poverty. To this end, we reviewed the literature and selected indicators of poverty, financial development and quality of institutions. Empirically, we used the three-stage least squares method to examine a sample of 132 countries observed over the 1980-2014 period. First, we proved that financial development does not improve the situation of the poor, while the effect of institution quality on poverty and financial development depends on the choice of indicators. Our robustness analysis pointed to the sensitivity of our results to the different financial development, quality of institutions and poverty indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether two popular poverty indicators, namely income poverty and material deprivation, reach similar conclusions about the poverty reduction effects of income transfers. Such evaluations generally use income poverty. It is well-known, however, that poverty indicators regularly disagree about a person's poverty status. What is less known is whether such disagreement also confounds estimates of a program's poverty reduction effects. This paper compares the targeting performance of social assistance, housing and family transfers in countries with different welfare states namely Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It finds that a transfer's targeting performance does not differ much when defining the transfer's target group either as the poorest income quintile or the poorest material deprivation quintile. Yet, when combining the information from both indicators, transfers appear much more effective in reaching those groups that both poverty indicators identify as part of the target group. Transfers also appear much more efficient in excluding non-target populations. For the groups on which the poverty indicators disagree, more analysis is needed. Triangulation between poverty indicators thus improves the validity of program evaluations as it enables a better separation between (potential) poverty measurement issues and the measurement of a program's (potential) effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this work is to use multiple Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)/Benefit of the Doubt (BoD) approaches for the readjustment and exploitation of the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI is the leading indicator for the vision of "development as freedom"; it is a Composite Index, wherein three dimensions (income, health, and education), represented by four indicators, are aggregated. The DEA-BoD approaches used in this work were: the traditional BoD; the Multiplicative BoD; the Slacks Based Measure (SBM) BoD; the Range Adjusted Model (RAM) BoD; weight restrictions; common weights; and tiebreaker methods. These approaches were applied to raw and normalized HDI data from 2018, to generate 40 different rankings for 189 countries. The resulting indexes were analyzed and compared using Social Network Analysis (SNA) and information derived from DEA itself (slacks, relative contributions, targets, relative targets and benchmarks). This paper presents useful DEA derived indexes that could be replicated in other contexts. In addition, it contributes by presenting a clearer picture of the differences between BoD models and offering a new way to appreciate the world's human development panorama. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been attempts to develop and employ tools for measuring development that shifted away from economic growth. In Thailand, a number of alternative indicators to measure the progress of development were created and employed. However, the indicators and measurements of development continued to be challenging, partly because of the dynamic changes of socio-economics, and partly due to the inconsistency between aggregated and local, or individual units of measurement. This paper aims to study meanings and develop wellbeing indicators of a community in the Northeast of Thailand. The data was derived from qualitative research conducted during 2013-2014. Focus group discussions with thirty-five formal and informal community leaders were used, and in-depth interviews were applied to collect data from thirty key informants. The results showed that the indicators of community wellbeing are classified into four groups, namely objective community wellbeing, community trust, community security, and community strength. The objective community wellbeing indicators were consistent with those that are used to guide policy and practice in Thailand. However, based on the local meaning of community wellbeing, new dimensions of indicators were found and proposed. This study recommended that these indicators should be developed further, to be employed as a tool to monitor progress, especially by local government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After nearly 20 years without any significant changes, the indicators of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) have undergone a major overhaul in the current 2014-2020 programming period. This paper reviews the characteristics of the ERDF indicator system evolution and contextualises the changes. Based on applying a logic model and practical examples, we argue that in spite of the good justification for changes, the new ERDF intervention logic and indicator system did not solve some of the well-known problems and brought new challenges for the ERDF-supported programmes. The main challenges that still remain to be solved are: differing indicator concepts between the European Union funds; inconsistency of the common output indicators; difficulties in establishing a programme’s contribution to results; persistent problems in determining the target values for results; and broad result indicators with indirect link to interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades, new indicators have been developed to provide alternatives to gross domestic product (GDP) at the macro level and to financial indicators at the business level (businesses' social and environmental indicators). However, these new indicators are poorly articulated between the business and the macro level. This paper aims to discuss the different possibilities of articulation that exist and outline a framework for a better micro–macro articulation. Firstly, we draw from the example of GDP and traditional business indicators by analysing the way they are articulated. Secondly, we review how sets of alternative indicators aim to articulate the macro and micro level by analysing indicators constructed around gross national happiness (GNH) and sustainable development goals (SDGs). This research shows that two specific types of articulation exist between indicators at different levels, one referred to as the 'accounting' type and the other called the 'conceptual' type. Their strengths and limits will be discussed, as well as how they can be combined. Finally, recommendations will be provided on how to best articulate beyond GDP and business level indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional equation of economic well-being with the gross domestic product (GDP) has dominated policy thinking for at least 50 years. However, a variety of authors have pointed to the social and environmental costs of economic development and called for more comprehensive and more representative measures of progress to be developed. Therefore, a variety of 'adjusted' indicators have been developed. The robustness and reliability of these indicators is still a contentious issue. But these attempts raise important questions about sustainable development and pose an important challenge to conventional thinking about the relationship between economic progress, well-being and sustainability. The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is one of the indicators of measuring sustainable development. Apply it to Liaoning Province, this paper evaluates Liaoning's GPI from 1978 to 2011. GPI, Per Capita GPI and GDP of Liaoning are compared with each other. It is concluded that GDP and Per Capita GDP of Liaoning grow much faster than GPI and Per Capita GPI. Grouped all components of GPI into three categories (economy, environment and Social), it shows that social and environmental development lags behind economic growth in Liaoning. This paper is till now a unique application of GPI indicator in Liaoning and China's provincial level and also contribution to the continuing development of the methods and results for the Index of Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). Policy implications are given finally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring well-being and living conditions at local level is essential for policy makers who wish to study inequalities and formulate targeted and effective economic and social intervention policies. In Italy, the available official statistics in this field are usually provided at regional level and several studies have been carried out in order to obtain the estimates of those measures at disaggregated level, which is done in order to obtain estimations at provincial level. However, due the heterogeneity of these phenomena within each province, it is important to possess data at micro-territorial level, that is at the municipality level, in order to study and monitor territorial development and inequalities in depth.This paper proposes an estimation of household consumption expenditure, one of the most important indicator of the economic material well-being of an area, for the 7893 Italian municipalities.To this end, the cokriging spatial interpolation technique was employed in order to explore its potentialities. This method is normally used in natural sciences to predict variables of interest at micro territorial level, using available sample data or population aggregates, analysing their spatial dependence and introducing information on auxiliary correlated variables available at micro level. In this study, the available information on household consumption expenditure at provincial level was combined with the data on taxable income at municipality level as auxiliary variable.The evaluation of model performance enabled us to confirm the validity of this approach to obtain a more detailed picture of the local systems for which intervention policies are important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are countries at a low level of socio-economic development catching up with developed countries over time or rather falling further behind? Existing work on the subject is not conclusive, partially due to methodological differences. The aim of the paper is to carry out a broader analysis with longer time series and a more diverse set of indicators. The study divides countries of the world into 21 developed "benchmark" countries and 156 developing countries. The distance between the benchmark and developing countries is measured using the "time lags" method, applied here to nine indicators covering topics such as the economy, health, education and the environment. The study further utilizes a probabilistic approach to extrapolate missing historical data for developing countries, so that the analysis can cover a full century starting in 1920 and ending with short-term projections to year 2020. The study finds that a majority of developing countries, and the population-weighted developing world as a whole, has reduced its lag in most indicators between 1920 and 2020. Progress was unevenly distributed, with East Asian and European countries converging the most with the benchmark, while most African countries have diverged along with some American ones. Catch-up in education attainment and life expectancy has been more successful than in infant survival rate, GDP per capita or technology adoption. The findings are put in context of United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, showing how the time lag method could improve setting targets for some of the goals. Further, time lags are used to analyze the current demographic, economic and political situation of developing countries, identifying opportunities and risks for future catch-up with developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to detect trends of convergence in terms of governance among the EU member-states. This is an issue that has not hitherto been examined. The empirical analysis provided utilizes the worldwide governance indicators, employs the methodological approach of convergence clubs and covers the period 1996-2012. Findings reported herein point to clear trends of convergence. With the notable exceptions of some lead countries, the vast majority of EU member-states tend to form one convergence club in each of the six governance indicators considered. Yet, there are still appreciable differences. By and large, the northern and the western EU member-states exhibit significantly larger values compared to the southern and the eastern ones. This means that despite the convergence trends detected, notable divisions among the EU member-states still remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the Provincial Indices of Multiple Deprivation that were constructed by the authors at ward level using 2001 Census data for each of South Africa’s nine provinces. The principles adopted in conceptualising the indices are described and multiple deprivation is defined as a weighted combination of discrete dimensions of deprivation. The methodological approach used is outlined and key findings are presented for one province—the Eastern Cape. The paper summarises the ways in which the research is being developed further and the potential uses of these tools for policy and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the behaviour of Inequality of Opportunity (IOp henceforth) in developing countries. The analysis is carried out using microdata collected by national surveys and harmonised by the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). The LIS database incorporates a wide variety of personal harmonised variables, which allow us to made cross-country comparisons for developing countries. More specifically, we analyse six countries: Brazil, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Peru and South Africa and the periods of time covered vary from 2004 to 2014. In order to analyse the impact of inequality of opportunity we compute relative indicators by comparing IOp with economic inequality for each country analysed. Moreover, to check the robustness of our results we include two sensitivity analyses: first, we test the significance of overtime changes using inferential procedures and second, we assess if different economic indicators lead to different conclusions both in the evolution of IOp and overall inequality and in the relative weights of the circumstances that conform IOp. More specifically, regarding the first aim we focus on the disposable equivalised income to measure IOp and Income Inequality and we test if overtime changes are statistically significant using bootstrapping procedures. With regard to the second objective, to test the robustness of the results we compute IOp and Inequality for four different economic aggregates: Personal Income, Labour Personal Income, Consumption and Monetary Consumption. The empirical results of these analyses lead to two interesting conclusions: most of the overtime changes are found to be statistically significant and the use of a specific economic indicator is not as important as it at first seems, leading in most cases to the same conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent cross-country growth studies have found that ethnolinguistic fractionalization is an important explanatory variable of long-run growth performance. This paper highlights some limitations of cross-country studies by focusing on the time series evidence for South Africa. In presenting variation over time in a number of social dimensions, this paper adds longitudinal evidence on a range of dimensions that have been linked to long run economic development. Given South Africa’s history of ethnic and racial politics, it constitutes a useful case study to explore the dynamics of the possible effects of ethnolinguistic fractionalization on growth. We introduce several new sets of fractionalization indicators for South Africa: ethnolinguistic, religious and cultural fractionalization, and a polarization measure. The results of this study provide important nuance to the existing body of evidence, for the use of fractionalization indices in growth studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality of life must be measured within a multidimensional framework preferably inclusive of objective and subjective indicators that add to the information gathered through economic or monetary-only indices. This paper reports on the first application of the fuzzy set approach to quality of life measurement. The application uses the 2012 data for Macedonia collected by Eurofound during the third wave of the European Quality of Life Survey. The fuzzy approach, developed in the early 1990s, proves to be highly consistent and efficient in this empirical application when compared to distribution analyses. In addition, it is also statistically robust. Both the theoretical background and the application of the approach are described. The fuzzy set provides relevant added value for both data analysts and data users as it presents results easily and concisely, facilitates comparison and cross-reference between dimensions, and allows for the consolidation of monetary and non-monetary aspects of life quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of indices have been applied to the performance of nation states, both for research and as aids to help guide policy and intervention. While the literature on indices is extensive, the focus to date has been almost entirely on technical issues of index creation. However the success of an index is arguably related at least in part to the use of that index by policy makers and managers. While cause-effect can be difficult to determine, one approach is to measure 'success' in terms of the reporting of indices by an intermediary group such as the media, and this paper assesses the reporting of 24 indices by newspapers worldwide until 2012. The results suggest that index success is influenced by a number of factors, including the time it has existed, its focus, extent and quality of publicity, adaptability in terms of the scope for others to change the content and methodology of the index and resonance in terms of the match with ideas/culture/behaviour of people. The paper makes a case for a new research field that seeks to investigate the meaning and factors involved in 'success' of indices and how these should help with index development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we construct a Nepal specific multidimensional poverty index using the Nepal Longitudinal Sample Survey (NLSS) for the period 1995-2010. The indicators for Nepal Multidimensional Poverty Index (NMP) have been chosen using the goals set by the Government of Nepal and the perceptions of adequacy as reported by households. In doing so this study combines multidimensional and subjective methods of measuring wellbeing. The subjective data is used to guide the choice of dimensions for the multidimensional analysis. Our findings show that Nepal has had a dramatic fall in multidimensional poverty along with the observed fall in consumption poverty in this period. Comparing the extent to which consumption poverty accurately identifies the multidimensionally poor, we find the error has reduced over time but remains large in proportion to the poverty rate implying the need for a multidimensional measure. For the different ethnic groups and regions the patterns of reduction in poverty are not homogenous and are different from those of consumption poverty with the NMP outperforming the consumption poverty in tracking targeted policy actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional competitiveness is a concept whose definition and applicability is highly debated among scholars. Nevertheless, over recent years it has become widespread among policy makers and practitioners, especially in the European Union. In line with this diffusion a number of alternative composite indicators of regional competitiveness have been released. Instead of building a composite index, this paper carries out empirical analyses whose aim is to analyze the European NUTS2 regions' performance for those indicators that, according to the literature, contribute to the definition of competitiveness. Results highlight the existence of a competitiveness divide between Northern European countries, which report better performances for most of the competitiveness indicators, and Southern/Eastern ones. The group of more competitive regions expands over time by including regions from Centre European countries while within peripheral regions a stable gap between regions where metropolitan areas are located and the others exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, though the need for new indicators of progress is broadly recognized, no consensus has arisen on a successor to gross domestic product (GDP). Various quantification options are debated. While some intend to improve current indicators by completing or adjusting them to new constraints, others think that new indicators of progress are liable, if well-designed, to catalyse a transition toward a new societal model, less reliant on growth. Up to now, the normative stakes related to quantification options, though crucial for 'what we measure affects what we do', are scattered among the debates and do not appear clearly to actors. Our paper aims therefore to offer a systematic understanding of the normative impacts of generic quantification choices. To that end, we analyse the index of economic well-being (IEWB). For each dimension of this composite indicator, the analysis-which aims to be easily transposed to other indicators-sheds light on the variety of normative implications resulting from its conceptual and methodological apparatus. This concomitantly leads us to question in depth the relevance of some theoretical hypotheses underlying the IEWB to coherently account for economic, social and ecological issues. The paper's conclusion suggests that alternative conceptual frameworks, such as ecological economics and the capability approach, are liable to carry more coherent indicators of progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing a reliable indicator of the progress of the European countries towards the achievement of the Europe 2020 objectives is crucial for policy makers. Recently, a composite index was suggested for this task. In this paper, we propose a decomposition of this composite index by distinguishing between three different components: country-, group-, and objective-specific indexes. The decomposition, while simple and consistent with previous works, allows us to better quantify, measure, and monitor the progress of the European countries towards the achievement of the Europe 2020 objectives. Our findings suggest that significant efforts are still required to reach the Europe 2020 objectives. The decomposition highlights important patterns for the three levels for each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effect of income inequality on Europeans' quality of life, specifically on their overall well-being (happiness, life satisfaction), on their financial quality of life (satisfaction with standard of living, affordability of goods and services, subjective poverty), and on their health (self-rated health, satisfaction with health). The simple bivariate correlations of inequality with overall well-being, financial quality of life, and health are negative. But this is misleading because of the confounding effect of a key omitted variable, national economic development (GDP per capita): Unequal societies are on average much poorer (r = 0.46) and so disadvantaged because of that. We analyse the multi-level European Quality of Life survey conducted in 2003 including national-level data on inequality (Gini coefficient) and economic development (GDP) and individual-level data on overall well-being, financial quality of life, and health. The individual cases are from representative samples of 28 European countries. Our variance-components multi-level models controlling for known individual-level predictors show that national per capita GDP increases subjective well-being, financial quality of life, and health. Net of that, the national level of inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, has no statistically significant effect, suggesting that income inequality does not reduce well-being, financial quality of life, or health in advanced societies. These result all imply that directing policies and resources towards inequality reduction is unlikely to benefit the general public in advanced societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine whether football can be considered an indicator of development at the international level. An empirical econometric model is designed in order to analyse development in terms of GDP per capita as well as in terms of the Human Development Index. Cross-sectional and time-series information are used. The results suggest that FIFA rankings of national teams can be used to complement our understanding of multidimensional development, in particular, in those countries where the availability of information is not as good as researchers would like. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides the first published evidence for a ‘U’ shaped relationship between country ‘league-table’ ranking based on the Human Development Index and Corruption Perception Index and media reporting. The results suggest that the Extremity Hypothesis proposed by Heath (Glob Environ Change 21(1): 198-208, 1996) applies to such data rather than the alternative of the Centrality Hypothesis. In the Extremity Hypothesis people are more likely to transmit information regarding extremes, perhaps because people value ‘surprisingness’ or think that others do so, and the inevitable polarity of league-tables would appear to invite greater attention on those countries that rank high and low. This is an important finding as it suggests that countries at these extremes could act as exemplars. However, this is not to say that at more regional scales the media may pick-up on differences between ‘peer group’ countries ranked towards the middle of the league-table. Much more attention needs to be given by researchers to the use of indicators and indices and what helps to influence this, especially as it would help inform further development of existing indicators/indices and the creation of new ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of subjective indicators for measuring phenomena expressed in an ordinal scale is a central issue in social sciences, particularly in sociology and psychology. In this paper, we propose the use of a subjective indicator by groups of units (for example, by geographical area) based on the ‘distance’ between the empirical cumulative distribution and a hypothetical cumulative distribution of reference. This approach allows to avoid the awkward question of the ‘quantification’ of an ordinal variable, i.e., the conversion of an ordinal variable into an interval variable. As an example of application, we consider life satisfaction data coming from the annual multipurpose survey on “Aspects of Daily Life”, carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, and we present a comparison with some classical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, the role of tourism has been recognized as an instrument of endogenous development and, therefore, so has its potential to generate wealth and employment, provided the right circumstances are in place. One of the essential circumstances is governance, that is, coordination, collaboration and/or cooperation between the different players involved in the tourism development process, in a way that ensures the multiplier effect of tourism on the local economy. One of the great challenges facing policymakers and destination managers is the measurement of the progress achieved in tourism destinations in the field of governance and the adoption of the measures required to encourage the implementation of good governance in those destinations. This paper presents a system of indicators which can be adapted to the characteristics of any tourism destination and which allows the implementation of governance to be measured. This system has been generated from a questionnaire given to a group of governance experts and its application will be very useful in order to improve the management of tourism destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we analyse the relation between different economic inequality indicators and social cohesion. Previous research usually narrows down economic inequality to income inequality, or distinguishes several types of economic inequality. Little attention has until now been given to how different aspects of economic inequality might be related to each other and can have an effect on social cohesion. This article analyses several indicators of economic inequality and makes a distinction between indicators measuring income inequality, poverty, economic strain and unequal distributions of wealth. Arguing that these indicators represent different aspects of inequality, we hypothesise that they cannot be reduced to one latent concept of inequality and have specific relations with social cohesion. In order to test this hypothesis, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis. This resulted in two different factors: one associated with economic hardship, and one associated with imbalances in market outcomes. This would imply that inequality indicators can be classified into two underlying concepts. Secondly, we related the factor scores of the two latent concepts to the social cohesion indicators via regression analyses. This paper focuses on European countries and uses pooled data from the European Social Survey (period 2006–2012), in combination with macro-level data drawn from the OECD, Eurostat and the World Bank. The results demonstrate that the strength of the link between inequality and citizens’ attitudes depends on the type of inequality indicator we analyse: only the factor economic deprivation can be significantly linked to social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the spatio-temporal structure of quality of life in Andalusia, Spain, and examines how it has changed from 2007 to 2011. To this end, we study quality of life at the local level using municipal data, develop a composite index of quality of life inspired by the capabilities approach and recent trends in well-being, and apply a space-time approach using spatial econometric techniques. Demographic indicators, income, high-speed networks, education and health have the greatest influence in determining quality of life in Andalusia. From 2007 to 2011, the overall quality of life in Andalusia worsened as a consequence of the crisis, but territorial disparities decreased. The quality of life in a municipality does not change randomly, but is determined by the municipality's quality of life in the previous period and changes in the quality of life in neighbouring municipalities in both the same time period and in the past. Public policies should therefore take into account that both history and space matter in terms of quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standard indicators of wellbeing such as the QALY for health and GDP per capita for economic development have been increasingly regarded as being too narrow in focus. There is a need to develop multidimensional measures of wellbeing that encompass the full range of factors that make life worth living. This study is part of a project that aims at developing a multidimensional index based on Sen's capability framework to assess women's wellbeing in rural Malawi: the Women's Capabilities Index. The project identifies a set of capabilities relevant to the context; proposes a methodology to measure robustly these capabilities; aggregates the capabilities into a single metric (index); and validates and tests the index. This paper focuses on the weighting and aggregation of the index. Four weighting methods of aggregation are chosen: two normative approaches; a data-driven approach; and a hybrid method. The different methods have implications on the results which are critically assessed and compared. This study contributes to the literature on the implications of adopting different methods for setting the weights in composite measures of wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper designs a multidimensional index of well-being for 20 Italian regions, based on a set of 41 indicators organized in an original hierarchical structure, a decision-tree whose four main pillars are Economy, Society, Environment and Health. Our novel approach combines the objective dimension of the evaluation (a comprehensive set of statistical indicators) within a flexible non-additive aggregation model (the Choquet integral) characterized with the preferences of informed Italian stakeholders. Adopting the Choquet integral allows us to overcome the well-known limitations embedded in the linear models, by assigning a weight (capacity) to any coalitions of dimensions, and by allowing a different degree of substitutability within each decision node in the tree. The weights and the parameters for the aggregation are elicited through a computer-based nominal group technique, a method which reduces the occurrences of drastically dissenting valuations and the potential expert-selection bias. Our results show that experts' perception of synergies and redundancies is quite heterogeneous between levels and nodes in the tree. Moreover, well-being measures are much influenced by the degree of substitutability embedded in the experts' preferences. Overall, the Italian picture looks more heterogeneous when analysed through the Choquet integral, with respect to a linear model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose a data-driven approach for the construction of survey-based indicators using large data sets. We make use of agents' expectations about a wide range of economic variables contained in the World Economic Survey, which is a tendency survey conducted by the Ifo Institute for Economic Research. By means of genetic programming we estimate a symbolic regression that links survey-based expectations to a quantitative variable used as a yardstick, deriving mathematical functional forms that approximate the target variable. We use the evolution of GDP as a target. This set of empirically-generated indicators of economic growth, are used as building blocks to construct an economic indicator. We compare the proposed indicator to the Economic Climate Index, and we evaluate its predictive performance to track the evolution of the GDP in ten European economies. We find that in most countries the proposed indicator outperforms forecasts generated by a benchmark model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new index of governance based on the Alkire-Foster methodology and compares it with the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance. The proposed new index improves on existing measures of governance in two ways. First, it is able to incorporate both cardinal and ordinal variables without having to assign cardinal meaning to ordinal variables. The cardinalization of ordinal variables can lead to ambiguous rankings depending on the choice of the cardinal scale. Second, by borrowing the mechanism of cutoffs found in poverty measurement literature, the index can focus attention on nations deprived in terms of governance. The index is computed for the 48 countries of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's data. The groups of best-performing and worst-performing nations identified by each of the two methods are largely similar. However, there are some differences among the middle order governance nations. An additional advantage of the proposed methodology is that it involves counting each country's achievements in the dimensions of governance, which can be presented in a report card of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the potential pitfalls of macro-economic policies focused on stimulating economic growth and the problems involved in using GDP as a measure of well-being or economic welfare have long been recognized by economists and researchers from other social sciences. Therefore, it is no surprise that alternative measures for policy-making have been developed and promoted since the early 1970s. Over the past 5 years, the development of these measures has gained momentum both politically and academically. However, most research efforts concentrate on the development and promotion of individual indicators, while paying less attention to the wide range of indicators already available and to theoretical insights. As a result, few classification schemes of alternative measures exist today to help policy-makers in selecting a proper set of indicators. This paper first looks into the different classification schemes available in the literature and outlines the weaknesses in each of these. Afterwards, an alternative classification scheme is introduced that draws on the notions of well-being, economic welfare and sustainability. A further sub-categorization is built on the different approaches that are used to quantitatively capture the notions. By focusing on the underlying concepts that the different measures aim to quantify, the alternative classification scheme overcomes the drawbacks of the existing schemes. Finally, 23 alternative measures for policy-making are reviewed and organized into the newly developed classification scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new analytical framework for assessing spatial disparities among countries. It takes for granted that the analysis of a country’s performance cannot be limited solely to either economic or social factors. The aim of the paper is to combine relevant economic and ‘non-economic’ (mainly social) aspects of a country’s performance in an integrated logical framework. Based on this idea, a structural simultaneous equation model will be presented and estimated in order to explore the direction of the causal relationship between economic and non-economic aspects of a country’s performance. Furthermore, an exploration of the trajectory that each country has registered over time along a virtuous path will be offered. By means of a matrix persistency/transition analysis, the countries will be classified in clusters of good/bad performance. One of the most interesting conclusions concerns the inability of most countries to turn the higher educational skills of the population into greater economic performance over time. In addition, our analysis also shows that making an accurate picture record and formulating related policy aiming at environmental care is highly desirable. It is surprising that only a few countries have reached a favourable economic and environmental performance simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the interest grew in research on measuring the “quality of life” (QOL) in cities. This interest comes from the success QOL measurement achieved in understanding communities’ needs, tracking changes in different aspects of life and assessing the most desired types of future development among citizens. This research highlights the importance of measuring QOL in Jordan. It examines the opportunity and applicability of carrying out QOL measurement studies in Amman, the capital city. It outlines different scopes, visions and approaches that can be used to study and measure QOL and the most suitable mechanism that can work firmly. A professional top–bottom approach was used for that. Thirty-three experts with different backgrounds were interviewed in order to determine the appropriate scopes and visions for studying QOL, define the most significant aspects affecting QOL in Amman, and define the appropriate domains to be studied. Results were analyzed, limitations were defined and the final set of representative domains was stated. Domains were ranked according to their relevance and the important -underneath- aspects were defined in the form of models, each representing a certain domain. The paper attempts by the end to set the stage for setting up criteria for measuring QOL in Amman and to open the way for future QOL research to take place in Jordan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on the non-economic quality of life have been (a) on a national level or performed on cross-country comparisons, and/or (b) used subjective indicators to measure how people perceive their non-economic quality of life. In this paper, our main contribution is to construct objective indicators of the non-economic quality of life for 354 sub-national magisterial districts in South Africa. We also compare changes in these indicators over time, and consider methodological issues in the construction of objective indicators of non-economic quality of life. We find that although income does matter for the overall quality of life, non-income components of the quality of life can make an important difference. We find a number of places with low incomes that have been able to achieve higher than expected outcomes in terms of the non-economic quality of life, and that some of the relative income poor areas have improved their non-economic ranking between 1996 and 2004. We also find that the geographical/environmental quality of life in South Africa is better in non-urban areas, where fewer of the country’s population is residing. Significant improvements in the overall quality of life may be achieved through improvements in the urban natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social quality has been presented as a theory that can explain economic and social progress of the daily lives of a population. The components of social quality include: socio-economic security, social inclusion, social cohesion and social empowerment. The social quality perspective views people as interacting within collective identities that provide the contexts of self-realisation. The paper tests the social quality theory by focusing on the relationship between social inclusion and social cohesion, the notion of social relations, to socio-economic security using the context of the family as a facilitator of self-realisation. Using data from the Israel Social Survey 2003, six indicators of socio-economic security were analysed. There was a small but positive and significant relationship between social inclusion and socio-economic security. We found no relationship between socio-economic security and social cohesion. These findings tend to undermine those aspects of social quality theory which posit close connections between these elements on a conceptual level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a sequel to Sirgy et al. ( Social Ind. Res. 68(3) (2004) 251), “The Impact of Globalization on a Country’s Quality of Life: Toward an Integrated Model” published in Social Indicators Research. That paper conceptualized globalization in terms of the free flow of four major components: (1) goods and services, (2) people, (3) capital, and (4) information. The current paper focuses on the free flow of goods and services, one of the four major components of globalization. Specifically, we (1) articulate the trade globalization construct, (2) show the complex mediating effects between trade globalization and QOL, and (3) describe under what conditions these positive vs. negative QOL effects are likely to occur. We develop a set of theoretical propositions to capture these mediating and moderating effects. Based on the theoretical model, we suggest the following public policy recommendations: (1) Encourage exporting firms not to outsource jobs. (2) Encourage firms to export more products in ways that can enhance their production efficiency. (3) Discourage firms from exporting culturally sensitive (and possibly offensive) products to culturally distant countries. (4) Encourage firms to export more products with potential for technology transfer. (5) Encourage firms in industries with a significant comparative advantage to increase exports. (6) Encourage imports of products that do not compete with high employment domestic industries where workers cannot easily transition to more productive employment. (7) Impose trade barriers as short-term solution to help␣threatened industries while helping those industries retool to become more competitive. (8)␣Assist displaced workers by re-training them to shift to industries with comparative advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the proliferation of social indicator databases, the need for powerful techniques to study patterns of change has grown. In this paper, the utility of spatial data analytical methods such as exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) is suggested as a means to leverage the information contained in social indicator databases. The principles underlying ESDA are illustrated using a study of clusters and outliers based on data for a child risk scale computed for countries in the state of Virginia. Evidence of spatial clusters of high child risks is obtained along the Southern region of Virginia. The utility of spatial methods for state agencies in monitoring social indicators at various localities is discussed. A six-step framework that integrates spatial analysis of key indicators within a monitoring framework is presented; we argue that such a framework could be useful in enhancing communication between State and local planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green national accounting has existed in a variety of forms for just over thirty years. Having essentially begun as environmental cost adjustments to Gross Domestic Product, green national accounting now includes such indicators as the Genuine Progress Indicator, Genuine Savings, and the Ecological Footprint. This paper serves as an overview or stock-take of green national accounting initiatives and as a means of assessing the major developments since the early 1970s. It is concluded that a suite of indicators is required to convey a complete picture of a nation’s sustainable development performance. In addition, economic indicators need to be supplemented by biophysical indicators, although the latter should never be incorporated directly into national income accounts since they serve as indicators of ecological sustainability, not of economic performance. Finally, the fact that a number of recently established indicators are still in the embryonic stage of development means that considerable refinement is necessary before they are likely to be broadly accepted by the policy-making community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question of whether the value priorities of older and younger adults differ, and if so, whether the pattern of differences is similar in countries with different experience of economic, political and social change. The data from the 2008 wave from ESS about responses to a 21-item version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ, Schwartz 2003) were used to compare value priorities in younger (under 30 years) and older adults from five East-Central European countries-Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Russia-and two relatively stable Nordic welfare states-Finland and Sweden. The study found a clear general trend for younger adults toward Openness to Change and Self-Enhancement on the two value dimensions. Age group differences were more pronounced in East-Central countries, and on Conservation-Openness to Change dimension. Younger people from different countries had more similar values than older adults in regard to the importance placed on Openness to Change. The discussion focused on possible reasons of the findings such as the different effect of societal change on value priorities of people from different age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests a new and comprehensive approach to the assessment of the material well-being at the individual level by constructing a multidimensional index. Using this approach, material well-being is understood as a generic notion that covers a number of different domains, whereas the concept of domain is used to distinguish between different aspects of people's resources, including income security, basic needs, durables, housing and subjective material well-being. Each dimension is measured independently, using the best indicators available, to generate a score or domain index for each aspect of material well-being. The procedure of re-weighting the indicators within the separate domains enables us to account for the disparity in resources and consumer preferences across different population subgroups. The final domain scores, combined with explicit weighting, are then used to generate a summary material well-being index. The domain indices and the summary material well-being index are validated by exploring their relationships to key socio-economic attributes, which were previously shown to be strongly associated with individual material well-being. The results showed that the summary indices of material well-being are characterized by greater differentiation in relation to such measures, as occupational class and judgments of satisfaction with one's life. This allows us to conclude that our summary indices capture the latent concept of material well-being better than any of our domain indices used separately. Although the index is constructed using the Russian Gender and Generation Survey data for 2007, the methodological approach that we applied can be easily replicated in other surveys which contain information on several aspects of material well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]