Improving the measurement of export instability in the Economic Vulnerability Index: A simple proposal

Alongside GNI per capita and the Human Assets Index (HAI), the Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) is one of the three criteria used for the identification of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), as used by the UN-CDP (Committee for Development Policy) at each triennial review of the list of LDCs (see LDC Handbook, United Nations, 2015). EVI has also been proposed as a relevant criterion for the allocation of development assistance (see UN General Assembly resolution on the smooth transition of graduating LDCs – A/C.2/67/L.5 – and a survey in Guillaumont 2009b; Guillaumont and Wagner, 2013). For the EVI to be still considered as a useful tool for the identification of LDCs, and also as an aid allocation criterion, some components (or at least their calculation) may need to be refined.