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The Human Development Index and changes in standards of living: Some historical comparisons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2006

N. F. R. Crafts
N. F. R. Crafts
Affiliation:
Department of Economic History, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE
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Abstract

The article compiles measures of the Human Development Index and also growth rates of real GDP/person adjusted for changes in mortality and leisure for 16 advanced economies since 1870. It is argued that relatively low life expectancy implies that the high income countries of 1870 had lower living standards than most of today's Third World but that since 1870 imputations for reductions in market work time have added more to growth than decreases in mortality. Overall, it seems clear that conventional measures of economic growth seriously understate the rate of improvement in living standards since 1870.

Type
Articles
Information
European Review of Economic History , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , December 1997 , pp. 299 - 322
Copyright
Cambridge University Press 1997

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