Revisiting the Meaning of Development: A Multidimensional Taxonomy of Developing Countries
ARTICLE by Sergio Tezanos Vázqueza & Andy Sumner
Many have challenged the use of income per capita as the primary proxy for measuring development since Seers's seminal works. This article continues this tradition with a more recent twist.
The authors use cluster analysis to build a multidimensional taxonomy of developing countries using a set of indicators covering four conceptual frames on 'development'.
The value-added of the article is not to suggest that the authors classification is the end in itself, but – more modestly – to demonstrate that more work on taxonomies is required in light of the weakness of classifications based solely on income and the changing distribution of global poverty.
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