Why Are We Worried About Income? Nearly Everything that Matters is Converging

Convergence of national GDP/capita numbers is a common, but narrow, measure of global success or failure in development. This paper takes a broader range of quality of life variables covering health, education, rights and infrastructure and examines if they are converging across countries. It finds...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World development 2005, Vol.33 (1), p.1-19
Main Author: Kenny, Charles
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
convergence
Economic Development
Income
Quality of Life
Studies
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Summary:Convergence of national GDP/capita numbers is a common, but narrow, measure of global success or failure in development. This paper takes a broader range of quality of life variables covering health, education, rights and infrastructure and examines if they are converging across countries. It finds that these measures are converging as a rule and (where we have data) that they have been converging for some time. The paper turns to a discussion of what might be driving convergence in quality of life even as incomes diverge, and what this might mean for the donor community.
ISSN:0305-750X
1873-5991
DOI:10.1016/j.worlddev.2004.06.016