Development and wellbeing indicators

Explain the difference between economic growth and development. Can a country's GDP grow without improving the lives of the majority? Give a reasoned example.

Explain in your own words what a country's development is and what dimensions it includes besides income (health, education, freedoms, the environment). Why is development said to be "multidimensional"?

Development approaches talk about expanding people's "capabilities" and real freedoms: being able to read, living healthily, participating, choosing your own life project. Explain with an example why a person with income but without freedom or without health is not truly "developed".

What does the Human Development Index (HDI) measure and which three dimensions does it combine? Explain why it is considered a more comprehensive measure than GDP per capita.

What does life expectancy at birth measure and what does it tell us about a country? Two countries with the same income per capita have life expectancies of $74$ and $83$ years: what hypotheses would you make about their healthcare systems, their diets or their inequality?

Two imaginary countries: Kolia has an income per capita of $40.000\ \text{€}$ and a medium HDI; Osia has $28.000\ \text{€}$ and a very high HDI.

1. a) How is this combination possible? Explain what Osia must be doing right.
2. b) Which country would you choose to live in and what criterion do you use to decide?

Name three quality-of-life indicators other than GDP (related, for example, to health, education, the environment or leisure time) and explain what each one captures that GDP does not.

Give three reasons why GDP does not accurately measure well-being, focusing on unpaid work, the shadow economy and environmental damage. For each one, explain with an example how it distorts the measure.

An earthquake destroys part of a city. The following year, the region's GDP rises strongly thanks to reconstruction.

1. a) Explain why GDP grows even though residents are worse off than before the earthquake: what does GDP count and what does it not count?
2. b) What complementary indicator would better reflect the situation (wealth or assets destroyed, perceived well-being)? Reason your answer.

What do the literacy rate and the average years of schooling measure? Explain why education is both a sign of development and one of its causes: what chain connects it to future income?

What does the per capita carbon footprint measure? Reason why environmental indicators form part of future well-being even though they do not measure today's life: what is the relationship between current emissions and the development of the next generations?

If two neighbours each look after their own children, GDP records nothing; if they decide to pay each other to look after the other's children, GDP rises, even though the work done is the same.

1. a) Explain the paradox and what it says about what GDP measures (market transactions).
2. b) Reason how this affects GDP comparisons between countries or between periods with different levels of women's participation in paid work.