Occasional Papers

Education as an equalizer for human development?

By: Fabrizio Bernardi and Ilze Plavgo
2020
This paper examines the potential of education to act as the ‘great equalizer’ and reduce the negative effects of economic inequality on health and other social outcomes, such as crime, educational proficiency and, in particular, social mobility. In the...Read more

Exploring Dynamics of Inequality in Human Development

By: Christina Lengfelder
2019
Human development is about putting people at the centre of the development debate. The human development approach traditionally goes beyond economic growth to assess human development around the world. The present paper explores how inequalities emerge,...Read more

The Historical Roots of Well-Being and Social Cohesion

By: Eric M. Uslaner
2019
A country’s levels of well-being and social cohesion are largely stable over long periods of time. Two key determinants of well-being—equality and education—follow this ‘path dependence’. This paper reviews these relationships and then move to a...Read more

The Conflict–Inequality Trap: How Internal Armed Conflict Affects Horizontal Inequality

By: Sirianne Dahlum, H ̊avard Mokleiv Nyg ̊ard, Siri Aas Rustad and Gudrun Østby
2019
This background paper examines how conflict affects horizontal inequality. While a large literature looks at how horizontal inequality is linked to the onset of armed conflict, we know very little about if, and how, conflict in turn affects such...Read more

Making data work for human development

By: Astra Bonini
2018
This policy oriented paper underscores the importance of improving data for advancing human development and identifies ways to strengthen links between better data and better development outcomes. It explores two questions. What types of policies and...Read more

Rethinking Human Development in an Era of Planetary Transformation

By: Kishan Khoday
2018
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to set a new balance between people and planet, in stark contrast to the heavy social orientation and human centric nature of past development policy. This...Read more

On Human Development Indicators

By: Marc Fleurbaey
2018
The Human Development Index (HDI) has evolved over time and Anand (2018) offers a stimulating critique of various aspects. This paper discusses Anand's critique and, in particular, offers an argument in favor of some degree of complementarity between the...Read more

A New Generation of Data for Human Development

By: Peter Hackl
2018
Human Development Reports have been annually published by the Human Development Report Office at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1990. Discussion about the relevant dimensions of the Human Development Index (HDI), the appropriate...Read more

The New Global MPI 2018: Aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals

By: Sabina Alkire and Selim Jahan
2018
Early in 2018, the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report Office (HDRO) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) agreed to adjust and unify their methodologies on poverty measurement and consider indicator...Read more

Human Development Indices and Indicators: A Critical Evaluation

By: Stephan Klasen
2018
This paper critically evaluates UNDP’s current suite of human development indicators and composite indices. Despite a drastically changed landscape of development debates and associated indicators, most notably the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),...Read more