9308505 Firebaugh This is a project to determine whether rising income in poor countries has contributed to improved welfare for the ordinary population in those countries. The research will assemble data on indicators of social development (e.g., caloric consumption, infant survival, life expectancy) for a sample of 60 poor countires over the last quarter century and test the welfare consequences of both income growth and economic dependency. The research also proposes changes in the way in which cross-national research on such questions is typically conducted. This project will contribute to a growing effort to find ways to measure the social consequences of economic growth and of economic dependence on other countries. Previous efforts to study not simply economic development but also social development have been hampered by the absence of suitable data and faulty models. If this research is successful it will provide a much firmer basis than past studies for understanding the impact on human lives of the economic changes that are sweeping the world. ***
