ABSTRACT
The traditional way of comparing the economic ranking of a country was simply to compute per capita income. Generally, by 2010 the oil-rich Gulf countries had gross domestic products per capita in the $20,000 to $45,000 range. The poorest country, Yemen, was close to $1,000. Most others were between $5,000 and $10,000. However, it has been persuasively argued, especially by those associated with the United Nations Development Program, that this simple notion often gives an inaccurate picture of well-being. They developed something called the Human Development Index, a measure that includes measures of per capita income, health, and literacy. After all, a country can be income rich while having low life expectancy and high rates of illiteracy. This was the position of the petroleum-exporting countries in 1974, the time of very high petroleum prices. Their per capita income ranking was much higher than their Human Development ranking. Since that time, the Human Development rank has increased due to the fact that a substantial portion of the petroleum earning was invested in education and health. Even so, this view of the human condition can be criticized for being too simple. For instance, it says nothing about the distribution of income, the role of females, the amount spent on the military, and a host of other factors. Scholars are grappling with the construction of more sophisticated versions to measure “the good life” in a more meaningful fashion. Table 11.1 shows the differences in per capita income along with health and military expenditures.
