Abstract
This paper argues that the future of composite indices of development such as the Human Development Index depends on how successfully they become operational and this is more likely to be possible at the country level for a variety of reasons. With this in mind the paper proposes a method and a model for the systematic reduction of regional disparities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a problem which is of serious concern to policy makers in Iran at present. A number of indicators of education, health and economic welfare, from the recent Human Development Report of Iran, are employed to compare 26 provinces (regions) of Iran. This paper considers (i) a method for combining the data into a composite index of development and thereby ranking provinces with respect to their overall development; (ii) it proposes a method for capturing the extent of regional disparities with respect to the selected indicators, and (iii) it suggests a way of including the results into a policy model which aims at the systematic reduction of regional disparities in Iran. For this purpose it computes a set of targets for various provinces and suggests a way of adjusting these targets. Copyright Β© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.