THE HUMAN-DEVELOPMENT INDEX - HANDLE WITH CARE

The United Nations Development Programme has proposed a new "human development index' (HDI) to improve on per capita gross national product, the usual measure of "development'. This article challenges the usefulness of the conceptual framework (i.e., relative deprivation) of "human development' represented in the HDI, illustrates the sensitivity of this measure to plausible refinements, and argues that it offers only limited insights beyond those obtained by small modifications to simple measures of economic output. Until the conceptual underpinnings of the HDI are more firmly established, analysts and policymakers are better served by much simpler measures and methods for evaluating human development. -Author