The Dynamics of Human Development

This book studies the dynamic aspects of the Human Development Index (HDI) through a partial mobility perspective. It offers a new axiomatic structure and a set of mobility indices to discuss partial trends and interrogate the human development status at the subgroup and subregional levels. While traditional human development theories are primarily concerned with static distributions corresponding to a point in time, this book looks at an oft-neglected side of HDI and focuses on relative changes in human development that may not be captured by the absolutist framework. In addition, the authors also introduce the concepts of jump and fractional mobility which aid in tracking the development and stagnation among various groups within a population.

This work breaks fresh ground in the study of human development. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of economics, development economics, political economy, and development practitioners.

Atanu Sengupta is Professor at the Department of Economics, Burdwan University, West Bengal, India, where he has been teaching for more than a decade. He has published over 45 papers in various refereed national and international journals such as Economic and Political Weekly, Sankhya, Social Indicators Research, International Journal of Education and Development, Indian Economic Review, Asia Pacific Development Journal, and Asia Pacific Journal of Education and Development, and has also contributed chapters in various edited volumes. He has published eight books, including two edited volumes, and is a regular reviewer for several journals. His areas of interest include econometrics, financial economics, development economics, microeconomics, and growth theory.

Abhijit Ghosh is Assistant Professor of Economics, Mahatma Gandhi College, Lalpur, West Bengal, India. He was formerly with A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, Bihar, India. He has widely participated in international and national seminars and conferences. He is a regular reviewer for several journals. His research has been published in various national and international journals such as Economic and Political Weekly, Social Indicators Research, Asia Pacific Development Journal, Journal of Health Management, and so forth. He has also contributed papers in edited volumes and is the author of one book. His areas of research interest include human development and related issues (education, health, and food security), regional economics, local government and panchayati raj institutions, and applied econometrics.