Quantifying the Economic Development Dynamics of a Country Based on the Lorenz Curve

Abstract

The welfare of a country depends on its economic development. In order to have the impact on it, we should have a possibility to quantitatively assess its situation at the desired point in time. Economic development, as a multifaceted and complex phenomenon, is reflected in two dimensions – intensity and uniformity. These mentioned above can be viewed as partial indicators of dynamics. Two main approaches to measuring development uniformity can be distinguished. In one of the cases, it is measured on the basis of an index that includes the main results of the country's economic development. In the other case, the values of the indicators reflecting all the essential development actions are combined in one appropriate way. From a scientific point of view, the second approach is more accurate as it allows for a better assessment of the complex nature of a country’s economic development. On the other hand, its application today is still problematic due to the fact that the models for this differ in terms of both the number and composition of indicators. For this reason, it is not possible to compare countries. Therefore, in international practice, the economic development of countries is measured by gross domestic product per capita (GDP). Based on GDP indicator, the method for the measurement of uniformity is proposed and the essence of which is the ratio of the length of the ideal trajectory of the development during the period under review to the length of the actual trajectory. Without ruling out the appropriateness of such an approach for assessing development uniformity, it makes sense to look for alternative methods. In this sense, methods that allow assessment of the extent of fluctuations of the phenomenon under consideration as an essential feature of development dynamics are suitable. These include the Gini coefficient, which is determined from the Lorenz curve.