IMPROVING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: A LONG‐RUN VIEW

Abstract The pessimistic flavour of the Human Development Reports appears to be in contradiction with their own numbers as developing countries fare comparatively better in human development than in per capita GDP terms. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by providing a new, ‘improved’ human development index (IHDI), informed by welfare economics. The IHDI is presented here alongside the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) HDI for the world and its main regions since the late 19th century. Social dimensions in the IHDI are derived, following Kakwani (Journal of Development Economics 41 (1993), pp. 307–336), with a convex achievement function, whereas a geometric average is employed to combine its dimensions (longevity, knowledge and income). Thus, the IHDI does not conceal the gap between rich and poor countries and casts a much less optimistic view than the conventional UNDP index, while it fits with the UNDP concern for international differences. The paper's findings highlight main weaknesses in human development dimensions of present‐day developing countries.     

A new approach based on BWM and MULTIMOORA methods for calculating semi-human development index: An application for provinces of Iran

Human Development Index (HDI) is a useful tool for policy makers to understand the degree of development in their societies and set new policies to improve it. Traditionally, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) releases HDI scores of countries based on the three key dimensions of healthy life, population education and standards of living annually. However, HDI scores have some deficiencies such as methodology, indexes selection and measures time lag. In this paper, a new approach is proposed to calculate semi-HDI scores. First, in each dimension of health, education and standard of living, new and extra criteria are selected. Then, policy makers' preferences are considered to assign the weights of criteria in each dimension using best worst method (BWM). Then, MULTIMOORA method is applied to rank provinces of Iran in each dimension. Finally, the semi-HDI scores of provinces are calculated based on geometric mean of healthy life, population education and living standards. According to the semi-HDI scores, Kohgiluyeh & Boyer- Ahmad and Sistan & Baluchestan provinces are the most and the least developed provinces of Iran, respectively.     

An assessment of human development,by region and country

The United Nations Development Program has introduced a composite index—the Human Development Index (HDI)—as a measure to replace GDP for assessing development of countries, using life expectancy, adult literacy, and adjusted per capita GDP as indicators. In this paper the authors suggest an alternative method for computing the index utilizing the same criteria.     

A new approach to assess the performance of the Brazilian National Immunization Program (NIP)

The present study develops an alternative measure of efficiency to assess the Brazilian National Immunization Program (NIP) using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), an output-oriented variable returns to scale (VRS) model, to combine different homogeneity indicators within a unique composite index and evaluate the socio-demographic differences among states. The new DEA index allows homogeneity indicators to be measured for various vaccines in the same model, which enables the development of a composite index for “the first year of life” immunization cycle. In Brazil 2010, the mean efficiency score for the 26 states was 0.89 (0.14 SD). Eleven states were considered efficient, and eight of them were located in regions with a high Human Development Index (HDI) and small rural population, which reinforces the concept that regional and socioeconomic differences must be considered during immunization planning. To reach the frontier of best practice, each state should have an individual and attainable goal for vaccine homogeneity.     

第四方物流下的供应链选择

利用供应链运作参考模型（SCOR）第一层的指标作为评判指标体系，并将它们与供应链关系指标综合考虑，采用模糊层次分析法（Fuzzy AHP）来解决每条供应链的多层次和MCDM问题，并耳最终得到对供应链的最优选择。     

Multi-stakeholders’ assessment of bike sharing service quality based on DEMATEL–VIKOR method

ABSTRACT

Bike sharing is a sustainable mode of urban transportation. Assessing the perceived service quality is essential to improve the development of bike sharing. Most of the existing research evaluates the service quality of bike sharing only from the perspective of its users. This study assesses the perceived quality gap among four different stakeholders including government regulators, platform operators, bike association and users. First, an evaluation criteria system consisting of sixteen criteria obtained from the five dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy is constructed based on a revised service performance model. Thereafter, a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making model that combines Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) with VIsekriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) is proposed. Then, the model is applied to evaluate the service quality of bike sharing in Xi’an City. Finally, some useful suggestions are given to improve the bike sharing service quality from the perspective of multi-stakeholders.     

Tricks with the BoD model and an application to the e-Government Development Index

In this paper we examine the implications of the ideal and the anti-ideal decision-making units on the Benefit-of-the-Doubt (BoD) model. In particular, we verify that, in the presence of an ideal (anti-ideal) decision-making unit, the efficiency scores of the BoD (inverted BoD) model can be obtained without solving the relevant linear programming problems. In this case, it suffices to choose the largest (smallest) of the element-wise divided component indicators of the evaluated decision-making unit by those of the ideal (anti-ideal) decision-making unit. We then illustrate one practical use of this simple enumeration algorithm by providing empirical results for a BoD-based e-Government Development Index within a traffic-light reporting system.     

A metric for corporate environmental indicators … for small and medium enterprises in the Philippines

This paper is an outcome of the empirical research, funded by UNDP Philippines and National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), done to establish and implement a metric of corporate environmental indicators for SMEs in the Philippines. SMEs have always played a vital role in the creation of goods and services in the country. It is therefore imperative that SMEs adhere to safe environment practices so that the greening of industries in this region is consummate. In this research we have considered SMEs operating in the food and beverage, furniture, fashion accessories, hotel and restaurant, automotive parts and electroplating sectors. The metric adopted in this research follows the framework given by the Federal Environmental Ministry in Bonn and the Federal Environmental Agency in Berlin. The empirical approach develops an exploratory analysis and a structural equation model to bring out statistically significant linkages between five latent constructs: environment management indicators, environment performance indicators, environmental performance, business performance and competitiveness. The research hopes to urge SMEs to implement this metric with confidence given that this would not only enhance their environmental performance but also lead to superior business performance and enhanced competitiveness. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Tracking Progress Towards Statistical Capacity Building Efforts: The African Statistical Development Index

This paper presents the development of the African Statistical Development Index, a composite index that aims at supporting the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the Reference Regional Strategic Framework for Statistical Capacity Building in Africa. It also helps to identify, for each African country, weaknesses and strengths of the National Statistical Systems so that support interventions can be developed. The paper first gives the rationale behind the development of the index as well as the context. It then elaborates on the methodology used to develop the index, including the selection of components and variables, the scaling of the variables, the weighting and aggregation schemes, and the validation process. The methodology is applied to a sample of African countries. Finally, the paper compares the proposed index to existing statistical capacity building indicators and highlights the related limitations.     

Road safety performance rating through PSI-PRIDIT: A planning tool for designing policies and identifying best practices for EAS countries

Road traffic injuries are a leading cause of socio-economic loss in East Asia Summit (EAS) countries. A regular performance rating to monitor progress and calibrate interventions is crucial for road safety improvement, helping to save human lives and reducing economic losses. To this end, we propose a new and easy-to-adapt multi-criteria decision-making method for systematically rating the road safety performance of the EAS countries, the preference selection index with principal component analysis of RIDIT scores (PSI-PRIDIT) (scores of a distribution relative to an identified distribution integral transformation). Using the results from other classical methods as a reference, we rank the EAS countries robustly and place them into three groups over the last decade (2009–2019), based on the composite road safety development index. Our findings should be useful for EAS countries to detect underlying problems and identify best practices, as well as provide government officials, policymakers, and practitioners with meaningful guidelines on the adoption of successful road safety measures. Overall, the proposed rating framework should help to strengthen the institutional capacity for road safety management and addresses road safety issues.     

物流企业中融资物流项目的评价指标体系

本文通过对物流企业中融资物流这一新兴业务模式的调研和思考,选取评价指标并建立了评价指标体系。使用层次分析法将融资物流项目评价的多目标决策过程量化,为物流企业开展该项业务提供了分析和决策的依据。     

Does Political Democracy Enhance Human Development in Developing Countries?

A bstract .   Despite the considerable progress of human development (HD) in developing countries (DCs) during recent decades, vast differences still remain among such countries. The question thus arises of why these divergences persist. This cross-national study uses a larger sample of DCs to offer necessary testing of the impact of democracy on HD. This study adopts new measures of democracy featuring majority rule and political contention to estimate their correlation with three physical well-being indicators as well as with three school enrollment indicators. After controlling for several macro-level political and economic characteristics (state revenue and economic growth), the regression modeling for recent data from the 1980s and 1990s showed that democracies indeed achieved higher levels on the HD indicators used here. However, democracy was not a powerful predictor of changes in HD scores during the analysis period. Neither central government health or educational spending significantly altered HD. The conclusions offer a plausible explanation of why democracy in DCs failed to sustain its momentum in improving HD.     

Examining Turkey and member states of European Union in terms of health perspectives of millennium development goals

Development is related not only to production and increase in per capita income but also to social, cultural and political improvements. The purpose of development is that individuals would live long, healthy and happy lives thanks to economic development of society. From this perspective, it is obvious that the human factor is fundamental to the concept of development. This study examines the most important element in human development—health. As health indicators, it uses the health perspectives in the United Nations millennium development goals that are “reduce child mortality”, “improve maternal health” and “combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases”. In the study, European Union (EU) member states and candidate country Turkey are compared in terms of health related goals among millennium development goals by using Multidimensional scaling and Cluster analysis. Initially, countries with similar and dissimilar health indicators are mapped in multidimensional space by multidimensional scaling analysis. Further, the same method is used to reveal similar and dissimilar health indicators among countries. Then, the findings are compared using Cluster analysis and are identified to be similar.     

An integrated BWM-LBWA-CoCoSo framework for evaluation of healthcare sectors in Eastern Europe

In this study, an integrated multi-criteria framework is developed to evaluate a healthcare sector which is one of the main infrastructures for any country. Healthcare sector plays a significant role in economic development and social sustainability of countries. To improve performance of healthcare sectors, it is essentially required to evaluate the healthcare systems based on their specific characteristics in order to resolve their performance related issues based on sustainable development principles under social aspect. For this purpose, the proposed integrated framework applies a novel hybrid weight determination model using best-worst method (BWM) and level based weight assessment (LBWA) to determine the weights of healthcare indicators and subsequently, combined compromise solution (CoCoSo) method is further applied to evaluate healthcare performances of several countries according to the pre-determined indicator weights. To show applicability of the proposed framework, a real time case study for seven countries in Eastern Europe is considered based on the data set of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Results show that Lithuania and Slovakia have the best healthcare systems in comparison to countries like Poland and Estonia.     

基于模糊层次分析法的种粮机具选型管理

本文结合种粮机具选型的实际情况,提出从影响选型决策的基本因素出发来建立选型的指标体系,并讨论了种粮机具选型指标体系的构成。最后,将模糊层次分析法应用于种粮机具选型,建立了选型模型,并通过实例证明模型合理可行。     

A decision analysis model for smart mobility system development under circular economy approach

Circular economy (CE) is recognized as one of the most popular theories of the decade. Its domain spreads to disciplines like production, environmental sciences, and transport/mobility sectors. This research corresponds to one of the essential questions in CE which look for effective solutions in smart mobility systems regarding eco-innovation indicators. We conducted a deep survey on CE and smart mobility literature and sorted out potential solutions (alternatives) and fundamental indicators based on the Quintuple Helix model. Then, a rough-based multiple criteria decision analysis model was adopted by the incorporation of LMAW (logarithm methodology of additive weights) and MARCOS (measurement of Alternatives and Ranking according to the COmpromise Solution) methods. To analyse the potential solutions, ten experts from relevant sectors assisted us in composing an assessment platform through qualitative comparison. Initial results showed that public transport (good practices) and shared mobility services are amongst the best solutions for establishing a smart mobility plan. Our decision-making model was tested and showed that our ranking scores are highly confidential and stable. The outcome of this study can be benchmarked in urban planning, where policymakers should rethink the transport and mobility sectors, structuring, development, and economic remodelling which are top decision-making problems nowadays.     

Assessment of alternative railway systems for sustainable transportation using an integrated IRN SWARA and IRN CoCoSo model

The long-term sustainability of the railway transportation system is determined by a set of criteria that must be considered. For this reason, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques have been used because of their high possibility of providing complementary instruments with successful flexibility. Keeping this in mind, we developed a multi-criteria method to conduct an assessment of currently operational railway systems in West Africa for sustainable transportation based on the examination of key challenges affecting the railway system. This study presents the interval rough step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis-combined compromise solution (IR-SWARA-CoCoSo) model. We have adapted the model to group decision-making by incorporating a new technique for dealing with ambiguity and the utilization of interval rough numbers (IRNs). To evaluate the importance coefficients of criteria in the group decision-making procedure, a new interval rough SWARA method has been introduced as an improvement to handle the issues related to MCDM. For the evaluation of the railway transportation system for sustainable transportation, a novel interval rough CoCoSo method was used. According to the findings, information systems is the most critical challenge to the railway transportation system, while the railway system in Nigeria is the best among others. The results were validated in two stages of sensitivity analysis: a comparison with different interval rough approaches, and the calculation of Spearman's correlation coefficient and WS coefficient for all ranks in the comparative analysis.     

Climate cooperation from Kyoto to Paris: What can be learnt from the CDM experience?

The mitigation of greenhouse gas concentration has become a first-order issue for decision making in environmental sustainability. Countries can meet their mitigation commitments and environmental objectives through multiple instruments. A key role is played by cooperative mechanisms, such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), under the Kyoto Protocol, and a similar mechanism established by the Paris Agreement (Art. 6), whose implementation rules are still under negotiation. However, another form of cooperation was already established under the different framework of the Official Development Assistance (ODA), potentially sharing abatement purposes. This paper aims to compare the mitigation actions implemented either as CDM or ODA projects. We conduct a multi-criteria econometric analysis, based on an originally created, harmonised dataset that merges renewable energy CDM projects and comparable ODA projects to investigate the role of the institutional framework in influencing the effectiveness of reducing emissions worldwide. Results show that the Kyoto Protocol had a positive impact in terms of cost-effectiveness for renewable energy projects and that it stimulated policy actions for environmental sustainability. Accordingly, in view of the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, it is extremely important both to look to the past to draw lessons from Kyoto's successes and failures and to apply multi-criteria decision-making approaches for the design of environmental policies.     

基于企业景气状况的财务预测研究——以企业调查数据为样本

以权威机构数千家企业调查数据为样本,分析了企业财务指标与企业景气指数之间的相关关系,并构建了基于企业景气指数的财务预测模型。经过分析和对模型的改进及对模型的预测评价,最后得到了7个具有较强预测能力的模型,为财务预测开拓了新的视角。     

Configuring innovative societies: The crossvergent role of cultural and institutional varieties

The study aims to explore why some societies are more innovative than others in high-technology sectors. Following a crossvergence perspective, we generate nine causal conditions by accommodating both cultural and institutional varieties: uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism and power distance as culture indicators, and union density, skill development, market capitalization to credit, prevalence of cluster and state dominance as institutional indicators. Applying the configurational approach, we conducted fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries. We confirm the equal importance of both cultural and institutional mechanisms as contributors to national innovativeness, and identify equifinal configurations of cultural and institutional varieties as leading to a high-tech society. The implication is that a society can adjust or develop various cultural and/or institutional conditions to maintain or create leadership in innovation.