The correct answer is (a) Amartya Sen.
Amartya Sen is an Indian economist and philosopher who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998. He is known for his work on welfare economics, social choice theory, economic and social justice, economic theories of famines, and indexes of the measure of well-being of citizens of developing countries.
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development. The HDI was developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is published annually as part of the Human Development Report.
The HDI was first published in 1990 and has been used to measure the progress of human development around the world ever since. The HDI is based on the following three indicators:
- Life expectancy at birth: This indicator measures the average number of years that a person is expected to live at birth.
- Mean years of schooling: This indicator measures the average number of years of schooling that a person has completed.
- Expected years of schooling: This indicator measures the average number of years of schooling that a child is expected to complete.
The HDI is calculated by taking the average of the three indicators, after they have been standardized to have a maximum value of 1 and a minimum value of 0. The HDI is then ranked on a scale from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating a higher level of human development.
The HDI has been criticized for a number of reasons, including the fact that it does not take into account a number of important factors, such as inequality, gender equality, and environmental sustainability. However, the HDI remains an important tool for measuring the progress of human development around the world.