The Measure of America

American Human Development
Report | 2008-2009

Table of Contents

Foreword

Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics

Foreword

William H. Draper III, Draper Richards, LP

Executive Summary

Summary of the Report’s main arguments and key recommendations

Part I: The State Of Human Development In America

• Human Development: A Different Way To Think About Progress And Well-Being
• What The American Human Development Index Reveals

Part II: The Building Blocks Of Human Development

• A Long And Healthy Life
• Access To Knowledge
• A Decent Standard of Living: Income and Economic Self-Sufficiency

Part III: What Would It Take To Be #1 In Human Development Alongside Our #1 Economic Standing?

• 12-Point Agenda For Change

Part IV: Human Development Indicators

• American Human Development Index (By State, Congressional District, Gender, Race/Ethnicity)
• Trend Human Development Index (1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2005)
• Human Development Indicator Tables, By State, Race/Ethnicity, Gender
• OECD Indicator Tables (cross-country comparisons)
• Technical Note
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• References

About the Contributors

Sarah Burd-Sharps (project co-director) served as deputy director of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office from 1998 to 2000.

William H. Draper III (foreword), one of America’s earliest venture capitalists, served as head of the United Nations Development Programme from 1986 to 1993, the period when the UNDP first began issuing its Human Development Reports.

Kristen Lewis (project co-director) is an independent consultant and writer who has written extensively on development, health and the environment.

Eduardo Borges Martins (statistics director) was the chief statistician in the creation of a Human Development Index for Brazil’s over 5,000 municipalities.

William M. Rodgers III (co-author) is a professor of public policy and chief economist at the Heldrich Center, Rutgers University.

Amartya Sen (foreword) is an Indian economist, philospher, and a winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1998, “for his contributions to welfare economics.” He was a leading member of the team that created the Human Development Index in 1990.

Francis Wilkinson (content editor) is a former editor at the New York Times and a former political consultant.