The Theory of (Human) Development
says that a number of factors affect how developed a nation-state is according to the United Nations. For this exercise, we will pretend that we are not completely sure which factors have what effects on a country’s development, so it will be your job to discover this. The economy is key, but there are many dimensions to a country’s economy. There are also other variables that relate to a country’s level of development. The variables you should be concerned with are the de-pendent variable, the Human Development Index (“HDI”), and two independent variables, carbon dioxide emissions (“CO2”) and fertility rates (“Fert”). The Human Development Index is put together from measures of three basic components: a long, healthy life, edu-cation/knowledge, and a decent standard of living. It’s a composite measure of a country’s total level of development. Carbon dioxide emissions are measured in metric tons per capita (per person) and are a combined consumption of solid, liquid, and gas fuels. Fertility rates are measured as the average number of children born to a woman who lives through her child-bearing years in a particular country. Estimate two models. The first model is a bivariate regression estimating the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and the HDI level of a country. The second is a multiple regression estimating the effects of carbon dioxide emissions and fertility rates on the HDI level of a country (We will acknowledge and disregard, for the purposes of this exercise, the reality that carbon dioxide levels and fertility rates may be outcomesof development andnot vice versa.)