Evaluating Development in Small Subnational Areas of Developing Countries

Abstract

This paper focuses on problems of measuring and evaluating development for small subnational areas in a developing country. It has been stressed that the core of the problem is a lack of suitable tools to do the job, due to conditions of underdevelopment. Paucity of conventional economic data lead to difficulty in the computation of aggregates for gross domestic product (GDP) and most similar measures. The gap the paper hopes to bridge is the need to define "development" in quantitative terms for small subnational spatial areas with deficient data bases and traditional societies, against the paradox of the non-quantitative nature of development. Despite the staggering diversity of physical, ecological, political and socio-economic attributes in such areas, it is possible to formulate sufficient proxy indicators for evaluating development using physical, structural, demographic and socio-economic variables. This paper demonstrates that construction of a multivariate Composite Spatial Development Value Index (CSDVI) goes a long way in solving the problem of economic development evaluation under these datadeficient conditions arising from underdevelopment.