Top

Journal of Quantitative Economics

Published in:

26-10-2019 | Policy Perspectives

Some Logical and Normative Issues Relating to Measurement in the Social Sciences

Author: S. Subramanian

Published in: Journal of Quantitative Economics | Issue 4/2019

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

This lecture is based on the premise that measurement is very important for the social sciences. However, it also enjoins care on the practitioner’s part in his or her engagement with the project of measurement. It deals, in particular, with four often overlooked issues with which quantification in the social sciences should be concerned: (1) social indicators in relation to the contrast between outcomes and processes; (2) measurement which tends to depend on the derivation of ‘ought’ propositions from ‘is’ propositions; (3) the neglect of the role of normative values in social and economic measurement; and (4) the role of language and logic in social measurement.

previous article Analysing Changes in Gender Difference in Learning in Rural India over Time

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Atkinson, A.B., and A. Brandolini. 2010. On Analyzing the World Distribution of Income. World Bank Economic Review 24: 1–37.CrossRef

Barakat, B. 2014. Revisiting the History of Fertility Concentration and Its Measurement. Vienna Institute of Demography Working Papers 1/2014, Vienna. https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/subsites/Institute/VID/PDF/Publications/Working_Papers/WP2014_01.pdf. Accessed 25 Feb 2019.

Basu, K. 2001. On the Goals of Development. In Frontiers of Development Economics: The Future in Perspective, ed. G.M. Meier and J.E. Stiglitz. New York: Oxford University Press.

Basu, K. 2006. Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality: What is the Relationship? What Can Be Done? World Development 34(8): 1361–1373.CrossRef

Basu, K. 2013. Shared Prosperity and the Mitigation of Poverty: In Practice and in Precept. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, No. 6700. http://ssrn.com/abstract=2354167. Accessed 25 Feb 2019.

Basu, K., and S. Subramanian. 2019. Inequality, Growth, Poverty, and Lunar Eclipses: Policy and Arithmetic. Development and Change. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12512

Bosmans, K., K. Decancq, and A. Decoster. 2013. The Relativity of Decreasing Inequality Between Countries. Economica 81(322): 276–292.CrossRef

Broome, J. 1996. The Welfare Economics of Population. Oxford Economic Papers 48(2): 177–193.CrossRef

Datt, G., and M. Ravallion. 1992. Growth and Redistribution Components of Changes in Poverty Measures. Journal of Development Economics 38(2): 275–295.CrossRef

Dhongde, S. 2002. Measuring the Impact of Growth and Income Distribution on Poverty in India. Mimeo: Department of Economics, University of California at Riverside. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.198.3867&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 25 Feb 2019.

Dollar, D., and A. Kraay. 2002. Growth is Good for the Poor. Journal of Economic Growth 7(3): 195–226.CrossRef

Dollar, D., T. Kleineberg, and A. Kraay. 2013. Growth Still is Good for the Poor. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 6568. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/496121468149676299/pdf/WPS6568.pdf. Accessed 25 Feb 2019.

Dollar, D., T. Kleineberg, and A. Kraay. 2014. Growth, Inequality, and Social Welfare: Cross-Country Evidence. In Economic Policy Sixtieth Panel Meeting, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance, Rome. http://www.economic-policy.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Dollar-Kraay-Kleineberg.pdf. Accessed 25 Feb 2019.

Dos Santos, V.F., and W. da Cruz Vieira. 2013. Effects of Growth and Reduction of Income Inequality on Poverty in Northeastern Brazil, 2003–2008. Economia Aplicada. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-80502013000400006.CrossRef

Gould, S.J. 1997. The Mismeasure of Man. London: Penguin Books.

Hassoun, N. 2009. Another Mere Addition Paradox? A Problem for Some Common Poverty Indexes in Variable Populations. Carnegie Mellon University Working Paper.

Jain, L.R., and S.D. Tendulkar. 1990. The Role of Growth and Distribution in the Observed Change in Head-Count Ratio Measure of Poverty: A Decomposition Exercise for India. Indian Economic Review 25(2): 165–205.

Jayaraj, D., and S. Subramanian. 2009. The Wellbeing Implications of a Change in the Sex-Ratio of a Population. Social Choice and Welfare 33(1): 129–150.CrossRef

Jayaraj, D., and S. Subramanian. 2015. Growth and Inequality in the Distribution of India’s Consumption Expenditure: 1983 to 2009–2010. Economic and Political Weekly, 50(32): 39–47.

Kakwani, N., and K. Subbarao. 1990. Rural Poverty and its Alleviation in India. Economic and Political Weekly 25: A2–A16.

Kanbur, S.R., and D. Mukherjee. 2007. Premature Mortality and Poverty Measurement. Bulletin of Economic Research 19(4): 339–359.CrossRef

Kolm, SCh. 1976a. Unequal Inequalities I. Journal of Economic Theory 12(3): 416–454.CrossRef

Kolm, SCh. 1976b. Unequal Inequalities II. Journal of Economic Theory 13(1): 82–111.CrossRef

Krtscha, M. 1994. A New Compromise Measure of Inequality. In Models and Measurement of Welfare and Inequality, ed. W. Eichhorn. Heidelberg: Springer.

Nino-Zarazua, M., L. Roope, and F. Tarp. 2017. Global Inequality: Relatively Lower, Absolutely Higher. Review of Income and Wealth 63(4): 661–668.CrossRef

Parfit, D. 1984. Reasons and Persons. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Patillo, C., S. Gupta, and K. Carey. 2005. Sustaining Growth Accelerations and Pro-poor Growth in Africa. IMF Working Paper WP/05/195. Washington, D.C.. International Monetary Fund. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.511.2979&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 25 Feb 2019.

Rosenblatt, D., and T. McGavock. 2013. A Note on the Simple Algebra of the Shared Prosperity Indicator. Policy Research Working Paper No. WPS 6645. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/894291468337199450/A-note-on-the-simple-algebra-of-the-shared-prosperity-indicator. Accessed 25 Feb 2019.

Sen, A. 1967. The Nature and Classes of Prescriptive Judgements. The Philosophical Quarterly 17(66): 46–62.CrossRef

Sen, A. 1981. Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Shorrocks, A.F. 1984. Inequality Decomposition by Population Sub-groups. Econometrica 52(6): 1369–1385.CrossRef

Shorrocks, A.F. 1988. Aggregation Issues in Inequality Measurement. In Measurement in Economics: Theory and Applications in Economic Indices, ed. W. Eichhorn. Heidelberg: Physica Verlag.

Shorrocks, A.F. 2013. Decomposition Procedures for Distributional Analysis: A Unified Framework Based on the Shapley Value. Journal of Economic Inequality 11(1): 99–126.CrossRef

Subramanian, S. 2010. Introduction. In Poverty, Inequality, and Population: Essays in Development and Applied Measurement, ed. D. Jayaraj and S. Subramanian. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Subramanian, S., and M. Lalvani. 2018. Poverty, Growth, Inequality: Some General and India-Specific Considerations. Indian Growth and Development Review 11(2): 136–151.CrossRef

Zheng, B. 2007. Unit-Consistent Decomposable Inequality Measures. Economica 74(293): 97–111.CrossRef

Title: Some Logical and Normative Issues Relating to Measurement in the Social Sciences
Author: S. Subramanian
Publication date: 26-10-2019
Publisher: Springer India
Published in: Journal of Quantitative Economics / Issue 4/2019
Print ISSN: 0971-1554
Electronic ISSN: 2364-1045
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40953-019-00187-7

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 4/2019

Political Risk and Real Exchange Rate: What Can We Learn from Recent Developments in Panel Data Econometrics for Emerging and Developing Countries?

A Flexible Approach to Age Dependence in Organizational Mortality: Comparing the Life Duration for Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Enterprises Using a Bayesian Generalized Additive Discrete Time Survival Model

Welfare Cost of Inflation: Evidence from India

Analysing Changes in Gender Difference in Learning in Rural India over Time

Evidence on Relationship Between Economic Growth and Financial Development of Selected Northern Indian States: Using Panel VEC Approach

Gold as Safe Haven for G-7 Stocks and Bonds: A Revisit