Bladimir De La Hoz-Rosales

This study aims to contribute new information on how and through which factors employment quality and housing quality can be improved from a human development approach so that people can live the life they want. Using the human capabilities approach as a theoretical reference framework, the article analyses the effect of involuntary part-time employment and overcrowded housing on the Human Development Index (HDI). The empirical analysis is based on the panel data technique, which is applied to data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the 28 member countries of the European Union. The results shed new evidence on how involuntary part-time work and overcrowded housing limit or hinder people from living the lives they want, at least in the dimensions measured by the HDI.

The objective of this study was to provide new evidence about the effect of human development in the entrepreneurship. Therefore, human capability approach was used as theoretical framework. Similarly, an empirical analysis was carried out by principal components analysis technique, for grouping of development indicators, of World Bank and of the United Nations, and the creation of Basic Instrumental Freedoms Index (ILIB), which was used as independent variable in the estimation of models by means of panel data. The results provide new evidence that suggests that the growth of ILIB encourages innovative entrepreneurship and decreases necessity entrepreneurship. Keywords: Innovative entrepreneurship, necessity entrepreneurship, human development, capability approach, instrumental freedom.

The effects of entrepreneurship and information and communication technology (ICT) on countries’ development have been extensively studied, mainly from the perspective of their contributions to economic growth. However, from the human development paradigm, economic income is only resource helping people satisfy their economic needs. This study provides new evidence to bridge the gap in our understanding of how entrepreneurship and ICT improve the quality of people’s lives. To achieve this goal, we use the capabilities approach as a theoretical framework. The empirical analysis was conducted using ordinary least squares with a sample of countries to provide evidence that innovative entrepreneurship, as measured by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, has a positive relationship with human development, as measured by the Social Progress Index. The results show that ICT, as measured by the Networked Readiness Index, is positively related to social progress, indicating that ICT is a tool that helps people improve their ability to lead the life they desire. Finally, we find that ICT boosts the positive effect of innovative entrepreneurship on social progress, and thus, that enhancing ICT, and with it, entrepreneurial innovation activity, improves the quality of life.

From the perspective of the human development paradigm, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) emphasizes the importance of supporting entrepreneurial activities as a mechanism for people to improve their living conditions and get to do and be what they really want. However, although public policies to support entrepreneurship are within the framework of the human development paradigm, there is a lack of studies to facilitate understanding of how and through what factors entrepreneurship can be encouraged, as an activity that favors people to lead the life they really want.

The effects of information and communication technology (ICT) on development have been studied primarily from the perspective of their contributions to a country’s economic growth. However, ICT can offer individuals much more than just monetary income—it can improve many aspects of their quality of life. In fact, according to the human development paradigm, income is only one resource that helps individuals to satisfy their economic needs. Using the capabilities approach as a theoretical framework, this study applied data panel technique to a sample of 145 countries to investigate how the use and adoption of ICT, by individuals, enterprises, and governments, affects human development, as measured by the Social Progress Index and Human Development Index (HDI). The results show that regardless of a country’s level of development, the individual use of ICT has a positive impact on human development; especially on the dimensions measured by HDI (having a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable, and having a decent standard of living). Furthermore, the use of ICTs for commercial purposes has a positive impact on human development at the global level, but if we make the analysis considering only developed countries, the relationship of this variable with human development is no longer significant. Regarding the impact of government use of ICT on human development, it has been verified that it is significant on developed countries. This study can be used as a tool by policymakers, especially in developing countries, to reinforce their intentions to support the use and implementation of ICTs.