A critical analysis of the croatian development index: three types of development and their regional position/Kriticka analiza hrvatskog indeksa razvijenosti: tri ipa razvoja i njihov regionalni polozaj

The paper is based on the analysis of the Croatian Development Index published in 2013 and its indicators on the local self-government level. The first part of the paper describes the index construction, as well as theoretical and practical problems associated with the construction of composite indices and their role in development theory. The second part presents the conducted analysis of the components and cluster analysis of indices for 556 local self-government units in the Republic of Croatia. Based on the analysis, six clusters and three types of development shown by the index have been identified: low development, unit development and human development. It was revealed that the index favours unit development, characteristic for littoral units, based on high incomes of towns and municipalities and population trends, at the expense of human development expressed through employment, personal income and education, although the intention of the index is quite contrary. It has been concluded that the index should be modified to better emphasise the human development component. Key words: Croatian development index, developmental policy, regional development, composite index, local self-government. Rad se temelji na analizi hrvatskog Indeksa razvijenosti objavljenog 2013. godine i njegovih pokazatelja na razini lokalne samouprave. U prvome dijelu rada opisuje se konstrukcija indeksa i teorijski i prakticni problemi konstrukcije kompozitnih indeksa te njihova uloga u razvojnoj teoriji. U drugome dijelu provedena je analiza komponenata i klasterska analiza indeksa za 556 jedinica lokalne uprave u Republici Hrvatskoj. Na temelju analize identificirano je sest klastera i tri tipa razvijenosti koje indeks iskazuje: nerazvijenost, razvoj jedinice i ljudski razvoj. Pokazalo se da indeks favorizira razvoj jedinice, karakteristican za primorske jedinice, temeljen na visokim prihodima gradova i opcina te kretanju stanovnistva, naustrb ljudskog razvoja, koji se iskazuje kroz zaposlenost, osobne prihode i obrazovanje, iako je intencija indeksa obratna. Zakljucuje se da bi indeks trebalo modificirati kako bi se bolje naglasila komponenta ljudskog razvoja. Kljucne rijeci: hrvatski indeks razvijenosti, razvojna politika, regionalni razvoj, kompozitni indeks, lokalna samouprava.