Regional development in advanced countries: A within-country application of the human development index for Austria

6Citations
Citations of this article
20Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Since its implementation in 1990, the human development index (HDI), the flagship indicator of multidimensional development, has attracted a great deal of attention and critics in academic, political and media circles. It initiated a new stage in the discussion of appropriate indicators to measure socioeconomic development. Until now, the vast majority of empirical work using the HDI concept has taken a cross-country perspective. The main aim of this paper is the application of the HDI at the sub-country level in small, highly developed and socioeconomically homogenous countries. For this undertaking we use a slightly modified version of the HDI, called the regional development index (RDI). For the components of the RDI - life expectancy, education and standard of living - we use recent cross section information for Austria at the level of districts. There exists considerable heterogeneity across districts in the RDI and its components. Our Theil-decomposition reveals that the overwhelming part of the observed heterogeneity is based on differences within provinces (96 percent), although the differences in life expectancy between the provinces explain a substantial part of the overall heterogeneity in this indicator (54 percent).

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Schrott, L., Gächter, M., & Theurl, E. (2015). Regional development in advanced countries: A within-country application of the human development index for Austria. Danube, 6(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1515/danb-2015-0001

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free