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Keeping things simple: why the Human Development Index should not diverge from its equal weights assumption
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 15:45 authored by Lee M Stapleton, Guy D GarrodUsing a range of statistical criteria rooted in Information Theory we show that there is little justification for relaxing the equal weights assumption underlying the United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI) even if the true HDI diverges significantly from this assumption. Put differently, the additional model complexity that unequal weights add to the HDI more than counteracts the improvement in goodness-of-fit. This suggests that, in some cases, there may be limited validity in increasing the complexity of a range of other composite sustainability indices.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Social Indicators ResearchISSN
0303-8300Publisher
Springer NetherlandsExternal DOI
Issue
2Volume
84Page range
179-188Department affiliated with
- SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2013-09-16Usage metrics
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