Dynamics in human development: partial mobility and “jump”

Development economists have argued that interesting dynamics exist in the intergroup movement of countries in terms of several development parameters. However, standard mobility measures are aggregative in nature. They do not study intergroup variation in mobility. In an earlier paper, we have introduced the concept of partial mobility for analysing the movement of a particular group. In this paper, the degree to which the group has progressed (or declined) from its current position is measured. It is argued that any movement is not sufficient to enhance (or worsen) a group’s welfare. There is a perceived threshold, and any movement above that threshold may be defined as “jump”. The focus of this paper is jumps, not just mobility. Jump is characterized with a set of axioms. The analysis of global data reveals that the poor countries fail to cross a threshold level, although there may be some limited movement within a narrow limit.