| Success or failure of different countries over the years is of enormous interest to researchers, policy makers and governments at all periods of time. A related problem is how to measure the achievement of a country at a point of time or its improvement over a period of time. Therefore, a wide range of literature has emerged on economic growth as well as on measurement of national well-being. Typical for this literature is the focus on Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This approach has been criticized from various points of view and ultimately, inadequacy of income as sole indicator of human well-being has been found. It has been widely accepted that the real objective of development must be to widen the choice of people. In fact, the ultimate goal of development is to build human capabilities and to enlarge human opportunities. Therefore, development of a country is not considered to be only growth of per capita income but improvement in the array of human needs, such as, health, sanitation, education etc. (Streeten, 1981). The present study attempts to measure welfare development of selected Asia-Pacific countries over the period of 1975 - 2000. In this context it proposes a new index: Genuine Welfare Index (GWI). |
