year 2009
authors Jaya Krishnakumar, University of Geneva
objectives Recent empirical literature has seen many multidimensional indices emerge as well-being or poverty measures, in particular indices derived from principal components and various latent variable models. Though such indices are being increasingly and widely employed, few studies motivate their use or report the standard errors or confidence intervals associated with these estimators. This paper reviews the different underlying models, reaffirms their appropriateness in this context, examines the statistical properties of resulting indices, gives analytical expressions of their variances and establishes certain exact relationships among them.
type of data secondary data
level macro
methods Structural Equation Model, and MIMIC
source UN
geographic context Middle and low income countries for the year 2000
keywords Latent endogenous: Health, Education, and Political freedom. Achievement indicators: Political Rights, Civil Liberties, Voices and Accountability, Adult literacy rate, combined Gross Enrolment Ratio, Life expectancy, Infant mortality rate