Redefining Development: Different Times Call for Different Measures
(2023) NEKH01 20222Department of Economics
- Abstract
- This thesis examines the relationship between economic growth and sustainable wellbeing. It evaluates the ability of GDP per capita to capture a how efficiently a country delivers long, happy lives using the limited environmental resources available, as measured by the Happy Planet Index (HPI). The purpose of the study is to see if a measure such as the HPI would be more appropriate than GDP per capita for guiding policy to ensure sustainable development. Using a dataset of 151
countries over 14 years, GDP per capita is compared with HPI scores. The HPI is a composite measure of a country’s average life expectancy and experienced wellbeing, divided by the country’s per capita ecological footprint. After running a series of correlation... (More) - This thesis examines the relationship between economic growth and sustainable wellbeing. It evaluates the ability of GDP per capita to capture a how efficiently a country delivers long, happy lives using the limited environmental resources available, as measured by the Happy Planet Index (HPI). The purpose of the study is to see if a measure such as the HPI would be more appropriate than GDP per capita for guiding policy to ensure sustainable development. Using a dataset of 151
countries over 14 years, GDP per capita is compared with HPI scores. The HPI is a composite measure of a country’s average life expectancy and experienced wellbeing, divided by the country’s per capita ecological footprint. After running a series of correlation analyses and a series of fixed effect panel regressions it is concluded that GDP per capita has a slight ability to predict a country’s HPI score. There is proven to be a positive relationship up until the point where a country’s GDP per capita is approximately US$1600 - US$3900. There are however ninety countries in the dataset with a GDP per capita above US$3900. This leads to a conclusion that there is a need for more of a pluralism approach in economics where GDP and a measure such as the HPI can be used alongside each other to guide policymaking in a sustainable direction. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- This thesis examines the relationship between economic growth and sustainable wellbeing. It evaluates the ability of GDP per capita to capture a how efficiently a country delivers long, happy lives using the limited environmental resources available, as measured by the Happy Planet Index (HPI). The purpose of the study is to see if a measure such as the HPI would be more appropriate than GDP per capita for guiding policy to ensure sustainable development. Using a dataset of 151
countries over 14 years, GDP per capita is compared with HPI scores. The HPI is a composite measure of a country’s average life expectancy and experienced wellbeing, divided by the country’s per capita ecological footprint. After running a series of correlation... (More) - This thesis examines the relationship between economic growth and sustainable wellbeing. It evaluates the ability of GDP per capita to capture a how efficiently a country delivers long, happy lives using the limited environmental resources available, as measured by the Happy Planet Index (HPI). The purpose of the study is to see if a measure such as the HPI would be more appropriate than GDP per capita for guiding policy to ensure sustainable development. Using a dataset of 151
countries over 14 years, GDP per capita is compared with HPI scores. The HPI is a composite measure of a country’s average life expectancy and experienced wellbeing, divided by the country’s per capita ecological footprint. After running a series of correlation analyses and a series of fixed effect panel regressions it is concluded that GDP per capita has a slight ability to predict a country’s HPI score. There is proven to be a positive relationship up until the point where a country’s GDP per capita is approximately US$1600 - US$3900. There are however ninety countries in the dataset with a GDP per capita above US$3900. This leads to a conclusion that there is a need for more of a pluralism approach in economics where GDP and a measure such as the HPI can be used alongside each other to guide policymaking in a sustainable direction. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9110758
- author
- Åhlén, Frida LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NEKH01 20222
- year
- 2023
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Happy Planet Index, GDP per capita, sustainable development, degrowth
- language
- English
- id
- 9110758
- date added to LUP
- 2023-03-28 09:00:48
- date last changed
- 2023-03-28 09:00:48
@misc{9110758,
abstract = {{This thesis examines the relationship between economic growth and sustainable wellbeing. It evaluates the ability of GDP per capita to capture a how efficiently a country delivers long, happy lives using the limited environmental resources available, as measured by the Happy Planet Index (HPI). The purpose of the study is to see if a measure such as the HPI would be more appropriate than GDP per capita for guiding policy to ensure sustainable development. Using a dataset of 151
countries over 14 years, GDP per capita is compared with HPI scores. The HPI is a composite measure of a country’s average life expectancy and experienced wellbeing, divided by the country’s per capita ecological footprint. After running a series of correlation analyses and a series of fixed effect panel regressions it is concluded that GDP per capita has a slight ability to predict a country’s HPI score. There is proven to be a positive relationship up until the point where a country’s GDP per capita is approximately US$1600 - US$3900. There are however ninety countries in the dataset with a GDP per capita above US$3900. This leads to a conclusion that there is a need for more of a pluralism approach in economics where GDP and a measure such as the HPI can be used alongside each other to guide policymaking in a sustainable direction.}},
author = {{Åhlén, Frida}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Redefining Development: Different Times Call for Different Measures}},
year = {{2023}},
}