ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the problem of calibration taking the widely used Human Development Index (HDI) published by United Nations Development Programme as an example. It demonstrates the enriched possibilities of a set-theoretic perspective on a number of measurement problems as propagated by Charles Ragin. In particular, the possibilities of calibrating and aggregating metric scales in different ways with the help of fuzzy set scores has been exemplified using the HDI, the Democracy Barometer, and World Bank indicators on democracy and good governance. The HDI follows earlier attempts to assess a wide array of social and economic indicators by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, established in 1963. Some more differentiated measures reflecting gender, ethnic, or regional distributions, an Inequality Adjusted Human Development Index, and a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index have also been developed. The chapter considers the nine-dimensional New Democracy Barometer as an example to illustrate the problem of calibrating and aggregating indicators of the quality of democracy.
