A MULTIATTRIBUTE MEASURE OF HUMAN-DEVELOPMENT

A measure of human development, which is not affected by some relevant drawbacks of the commonly utilized measures, is constructed. It is a function of several attributes associated with various factors - econo mic, social, environmental - and also includes non-homogeneous attribu tes. It is non-linear in its variables, so that it includes possible i nteractions among the attributes. Furthermore, it takes into account p ublic opinion about human development through a well-defined procedure of assessment elicitation. The formulation of the human development f unction constituting the measure is described when considering just on e attribute and then several attributes, and the difference between in dependence and dependence in assessment is shown. Such a procedure is applied to the measurement of human development in 9 countries of the EU, by using thirteen attributes related to the economic, social and e nvironmental fields as well as to the quality of life.