On some problems of using the Human Development Index in economic history
本文证明人类发展指数等价于一种家长式社会福利函数，导致经济史学家使用的不同公式仅反映其伦理偏好，并以意大利1861-2016年数据为例说明同一数据集下解读完全取决于分析者偏好。
Abstract This paper provides a theoretical framework that shows that the Human Development Index (HDI) is equivalent to a paternalistic social welfare function: this implies that all alternative HDI formulas used by economic historians merely represent their ethical systems. The problem is neither the choice of the dimensions included in the HDI nor the weighting scheme but the lack of consistency with standard economic theory. A key consequence is that with HDI, “anything goes”: using Italy 1861–2016 as a case study, we show how, given the same dataset, the interpretation of Italy’s performance is entirely driven by the analyst’s preferences.