Re: how to compare living standards
- From: "Jim Blair" <jeb@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:19:24 -0600
"Quirk" <quirk@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1140426560.681168.34610@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
christopher wrote:
I am trying to compare living standards among seversal countries. Is
the price of hamburger a reliable measure?
Although many in this group disagree, I am among those that consider
the best single metric to be infant mortality rate, as it is an
outcomes based statistic that reflects the general means of the
society, that to me gives a better picture of the living standard of a
society then any purchacing based calculation, which I consider to be
next to useless unless you are planning the location of a retail store.
There are certain issues with infant mortality being calculated
differently in different places.
Also, an often cited ranking is the UNDP's Human Development Index
(HDI) which involves many factors.
Hi,
I agree with your premise that more "objective" factors that are less
subject to manipulation give a better measure than wage-price-income
numbers.
But infant mortality also has the drawback of being measured differently in
different countries. Thus it is less useful as a comparison betweeen
countries as it is as a measure of different times in a given country.
Also, I ask "is there a point where a lower infant mortality rate is not
BETTER?" Because it becomes a measure of the ability to keep babies "alive"
in a vegetative state.
I suggest a range of measures including access to clean water, indoor
plumbing, living space per person, the distance that people travel during
their lifetime, age of death, education level, etc.
I think it clear that by these measures, living standards in the USA (and
for most of the people in the world) have improved during the last 30 years,
inspite of claims to the contrary bease on "corrected wage" data.
,,,,,,,
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