Abstract
This paper proposes a methodology for the assessment of social progress in the biggest Spanish municipalities between years 2001 and 2011. We follow recent descriptions of QoL to elaborate a measurement framework composed of eight dimensions, for which 16 subindicators are elaborated from information collected using different data sources. Weight constrained Data Envelopment Analysis is used to estimate QoL composite indicators in both periods and to compute a Malmquist index of social progress, which assesses the evolution of the indicators during the decade. The results evidence positive social progress with an average improvement of about 5% during the decade. While the Central-Northern regions still show the highest levels of QoL, the Southern regions (including the islands) dominate the improvement trend. We then decompose the Malmquist index into a catching-up effect and a frontier shift effect. Positive catching-up is measured in almost all the regions. The worst performing municipalities in 2001 experienced the largest catching-up effects, a trend that contributes to territorial convergence. The frontier shift also shows a positive trend.
Highlights
While social progress has been traditionally associated with economic macro-indicators, social science today is concerned with the need to complement these indicators with other critical domains of well-being, such as health, education or environmental factors (Costanza et al 2009; Fitoussi and Stiglitz 2011)
Significant are the improvement in the percentage of the population with a university degree (UD) with a 36% increase and the reduction in the rates of avoidable mortality (AM), which dropped by 24% during the decade
An interesting reduction in inequality is observed, since the coefficient of variation has dropped in eight variables, remained stable in two and increased in only four variables
Summary
While social progress has been traditionally associated with economic macro-indicators, social science today is concerned with the need to complement these indicators with other critical domains of well-being, such as health, education or environmental factors (Costanza et al 2009; Fitoussi and Stiglitz 2011). The interest in comparing the QoL in different countries is evident and today we count with statistical information available at this level of analysis. The indicators required are only available for the biggest cities or for aggregated territories such as regions or provinces. This is unfortunate, since it has been shown that the local level (municipality) may be more relevant in the assessment of the QoL than the regional or provincial levels (González et al 2011)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
