Statistics and capitalist progress

From United Nations Development Programme Human Development Indicators (HDI) Report, 2000: Country 1975 HDI1998 HDINet gain Romania 0.750 0.770 +0.020 === The Economist July 15, 2000 , U.S. Edition Can Moldova get worse? WHAT

Re: Statistics and capitalist progress

At 02:52 PM 5/1/01 -0400, you wrote: From United Nations Development Programme Human Development Indicators (HDI) Report, 2000: Country 1975 HDI1998 HDINet gain Romania 0.750 0.770 +0.020 === The Economist July 15, 2000 , U.S.

Re: Re: Statistics and capitalist progress

How did we go from Romania to Moldava? they're distinct countries, though next to each other. More importantly, the statistics don't contradict the story (assuming, for argument's sake, that Romania = Moldava). Imagine that Romania did really well in terms of rising HDI from 1975 to, say,

Re: Statistics and capitalist progress

Louis Proyect quoted statistics about Romania and, mysteriously, an article about Moldova: From United Nations Development Programme Human Development Indicators (HDI) Report, 2000: Country1975 HDI1998 HDINet gain Romania0.750

Re: Re: Statistics and capitalist progress

Louis Proyect didn't quote: 1975 HDI 1998 HDI gain Argentina 0.781 0.837 +0.056 Sorry I didn't dwell on this factoid. It would have made the point much more strongly than any that could have been made about Romania. Use of 1975 as a starting point is

Re: Re: Re: Statistics and capitalist progress

Louis Proyect wrote: Use of 1975 as a starting point is even more misleading from the standpoint of social science. Argentina has been going downhill since the overthrow of Peron. HDI, Argentina 1975 0.781 1980 0.795 1985 0.801 1990 0.804 1998 0.837 social stats, Argentina (source: World

Re: Re: Re: Re: Statistics and capitalist progress

I cite this stuff not to say that neoliberalism is wonderful or that Argentina is paradise. Neoliberalism is a crime against humanity, and Argentina could do a lot better under a more humane regime. But it's just wrong to say that it's all a story of going uninterrupedly downhill. Doug As I

Re: Statistics and capitalist progress

I think that these exchanges are very enlightening, showing how difficult it is to analyze economic development in absolutist terms. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]