Publications

The dynamic concept of sustainable development has gained enormous focus and interest in recent years. The inter-relation between the well-being of the economy, the society and the environment is at the heart of research, studies, and policy-making advocacy. Measuring human development has been widely discussed in the literature of economic development. One of the most widely measure, developed by the World Bank is known as the Human Development Index (HDI). With the growing importance of sustainable development, and the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a large number of alternative measures of development has replaced the HDI aiming to provide an adjusted measure that accounts for sustainable development. Among the widely known recent alternative measures are: first, the Environment Performance Index (EPI) takes into consideration the health impact and the ecosystem vitality. A second measure known as the modified Human Sustainable Development Index (MHSDI)accounts in addition to the HDI energy consumption and CO2 emissions. A third measure known as the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) have been developed and is balanced by such factors as income distribution and cost associated with pollution and other unsustainable costs. Human development in Lebanon varies based on the above measures. We argue that Lebanon, ranks well when it comes to HDI but lower based on the EPI. However, the other measures could not be applied due to the non-availability of information. Our analysis suggests that Lebanon human development could be much higher than its current level if the endowed resources of the country are used efficiently. This could boost the sustainable development path in the country.