IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v66y2008i2-3p461-467.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Commitment to Development Index: An Information Theory approach

Author

Listed:
  • Stapleton, Lee M.
  • Garrod, Guy D.

Abstract

Using statistical model selection criteria rooted in Information Theory which penalise complexity we show that there is little justification for relaxing the equal weights assumption underlying the Center for Global Development's, Commitment to Development Index (CDI). The CDI is a composite index which combines metrics of aid, trade, investment, migration, environment, security and technology. A survey of researchers recently concluded that the CDI should not weight each of these six components equally. Specifically, it suggested that: trade and investment should be weighted higher; migration and aid should be weighted lower; with peacekeeping and environment not statistically different from equal weights. Generating hypothetical data around the weights proposed by the results of this survey we test an equally weighted CDI against two unequally weighted alternatives. Although the unequally weighted alternatives provide a superior goodness-of-fit to these hypothetical datasets, this is more than counteracted by the increased model complexity associated with these unequally weighted models according to most model selection criteria. The results of our analysis suggest that the CDI should not diverge from its equal weights assumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Stapleton, Lee M. & Garrod, Guy D., 2008. "The Commitment to Development Index: An Information Theory approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 461-467, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:66:y:2008:i:2-3:p:461-467
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921-8009(07)00510-1
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrea Saltelli, 2007. "Composite Indicators between Analysis and Advocacy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 81(1), pages 65-77, March.
    2. Lee Stapleton & Guy Garrod, 2007. "Keeping things simple: why the Human Development Index should not diverge from its equal weights assumption," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 84(2), pages 179-188, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roberto Castaneda & Pilar Arroyo & Lourdes Loza, 2020. "Assessing Countries Sustainability: A Group Multicriteria Decision Making Methodology Approach," Journal of Management and Sustainability, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(1), pages 174-174, July.
    2. Petr Janský, 2015. "Updating the Rich Countries’ Commitment to Development Index: How They Help Poorer Ones Through Curbing Illicit Financial Flows," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 43-65, October.
    3. Antonio Sianes & Manuel Dorado-Moreno & César Hervás-Martínez, 2014. "Rating the Rich: An Ordinal Classification to Determine Which Rich Countries are Helping Poorer Ones the Most," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 47-65, March.
    4. Bojkovic, Natasa & Anic, Ivan & Pejcic-Tarle, Snezana, 2010. "One solution for cross-country transport-sustainability evaluation using a modified ELECTRE method," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1176-1186, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marco Marozzi, 2016. "Construction, Robustness Assessment and Application of an Index of Perceived Level of Socio-Economic Threat from Immigrants: A Study of 47 European Countries and Regions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 413-437, August.
    2. Giovanna Boccuzzo & Licia Maron, 2017. "Proposal of a composite indicator of job quality based on a measure of weighted distances," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 2357-2374, September.
    3. Busby, Joshua & Smith, Todd G. & Krishnan, Nisha & Wight, Charles & Vallejo-Gutierrez, Santiago, 2018. "In harm's way: Climate security vulnerability in Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 88-118.
    4. Greco, Salvatore & Ishizaka, Alessio & Tasiou, Menelaos & Torrisi, Gianpiero, 2018. "σ-µ efficiency analysis: A new methodology for evaluating units through composite indices," MPRA Paper 83569, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Khatab Alqararah, 2023. "Assessing the robustness of composite indicators: the case of the Global Innovation Index," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, December.
    6. Samy Katumba & Julia Kadt & Mark Orkin & Paul Fatti, 2022. "Construction of a Reflective Quality of Life Index for Gauteng Province in South Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 373-408, November.
    7. Paracchini, M.L. & Correia, T.Pinto & Loupa-Ramos, I. & Capitani, C. & Madeira, L., 2016. "Progress in indicators to assess agricultural landscape valuation: how and what is measured at different levels of governance," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 71-85.
    8. Carmen García-Peña & Moneyba González-Medina & Jose Manuel Diaz-Sarachaga, 2021. "Assessment of the Governance Dimension in the Frame of the 2030 Agenda: Evidence from 100 Spanish Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, May.
    9. Foa, R. & Tanner, J.C., 2012. "Methodology of the Indices of Social Development," ISD Working Paper Series 2012-04, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    10. Janová, Jitka & Hampel, David & Nerudová, Danuše, 2019. "Design and validation of a tax sustainability index," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(3), pages 916-926.
    11. Saisana, Michaela & d'Hombres, Béatrice & Saltelli, Andrea, 2011. "Rickety numbers: Volatility of university rankings and policy implications," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 165-177, February.
    12. Jacqueline Beuningen & Hans Schmeets, 2013. "Developing a Social Capital Index for the Netherlands," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 859-886, September.
    13. Nuno Campos Pereira & Nuno Araújo & Leonardo Costa, 2016. "A counting multidimensional innovation index for SMEs," Working Papers de Economia (Economics Working Papers) 01, Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
    14. Rachel M. Gisselquist, 2013. "Evaluating Governance Indexes: Critical and Less Critical Questions," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-068, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Mark McGillivray & Simon Feeny & Paul Hansen & Stephen Knowles & Franz Ombler, 2023. "What are Valid Weights for the Human Development Index? A Discrete Choice Experiment for the United Kingdom," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 679-694, January.
    16. Khayria Karoui & Rochdi Feki, 2018. "The Effect of Gender Inequality on Economic Development: Case of African Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(1), pages 294-300, March.
    17. Giménez, Víctor & Thieme, Claudio & Prior, Diego & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2022. "Evaluation and determinants of preschool effectiveness in Chile," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    18. Stephen Morse, 2013. "Bottom Rail on Top: The Shifting Sands of Sustainable Development Indicators as Tools to Assess Progress," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(6), pages 1-21, May.
    19. Lola Martin-Moro & Meltem Öztürk & Florence Laufer, 2022. "Modelling the Prison Life Index with Value Focused Thinking Methodology," Working Papers hal-03851980, HAL.
    20. Artur Krukowski & Anna Nowak & Aneta Jarosz-Angowska & Monika Różańska-Boczula, 2024. "Evaluation of the Significance of Agriculture in Renewable Energy Production in the Member States of the EU," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-18, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:66:y:2008:i:2-3:p:461-467. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.