DOES THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX (HDI) MEASURE REAL PROGRESS?

This article examines whether the Human Development Index (HDI) accurately reflects a country’s real progress. Although it represents significant developments over traditional measures like GDP per capita and income per capita, it still has some shortcomings. Based on the theories of economists like Amartya Sen, Acemoglu and Robinson, this article proves that HDI mostly measures outcomes rather than institutional processes that actually generate a development in the country. It explains why high HDI does not mean a real progress in the short-term and how it changes over the period. Moreover, this paper suggests alternative approaches, including the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI).本文旨在探讨人类发展指数（Human Development Index, HDI）能否准确反映一国的真实发展进步。尽管相较于人均GDP、人均收入等传统发展衡量指标，人类发展指数已有显著改进，但仍存在一定局限。本文基于阿马蒂亚·森（Amartya Sen）、阿西莫格鲁（Acemoglu）与罗宾逊（Robinson）等经济学家的理论，论证得出：人类发展指数更多衡量的是发展结果，而非催生一国发展的制度性进程。本文阐释了为何高人类发展指数在短期内并不等同于真实发展进步，以及该指数随研究周期的变化情况。此外，本文还提出了替代性的衡量路径，其中包括经不平等调整后的人类发展指数（Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, IHDI）。