Here is a simple empirical paper by M.H. Suryanarayana, Ankush Agrawal and K. Seeta Prabhu where they adjust HDI indicators of Indian states for inequality:
The adjustment is made using the Atkinson index of inequality, choosing the inequality aversion factor as 1, which implies that the index is more sensitive to changes at the lower end of the income distribution.
Some the the interesting points made by the paper are:
- Overall loss in HDI due to inequality is 32%; the highest loss is in Madhya Pradesh (36%).
- The loss in HDI due to inequality in income is 16%, in health it is 34% (global average: 21%) and in education it is 43% (global average: 28%).
- Loss in HDI due to inequality in income is highest in Maharashtra (19%) and Tamil Nadu (17%). Surprisingly, it is lowest in Bihar and Assam (9%). There is no observable correlation between income level of state and its inequality level. For example, Orissa has a high loss in income HDI (15%) whereas Punjab has a lower loss (13%).
- Loss in HDI due to inequality in education is highest for UP, Rajasthan and Jharkhand (46%) and lowest in Kerala (23%) and Assam (34%). After eyeballing the data in table 5, no clear correlation between income and educational inequality can be observed. Neither can we find an advantage for communist-ruled states, or a North-South divide.
- Loss in HDI due to inequality in health is highest for Madhya Pradesh (43%) and lowest for Kerala (11%). In the case of health, however, one can observe that the poorer states - MP, UP, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Rajasthan - tend to have much higher inequality in healthcare.
- After adjusting for inequality, Kerala is an outlier in both education and healthcare. Its HDI is 24% higher than the second best (Punjab) for health and 59% higher than the second best (Himachal) for education. This is truly remarkable in that not only are social indicators much better in Kerala, but are also more equitably distributed.
No comments:
Post a Comment