This paper investigates the distribution of well being among world citizens during the last two centuries. The estimates show that inequality of world distribution of income worsened from the beginning of the 19th century to World War II and after that seems to have stabilized or to have grown...

There is world-wide convergence in life expectancy, despite little convergence in GDP per capita. If one values longer life much more than material happiness, the world living standards may this have already converged substantially. This paper introduces the concept of the dynastic general...

A formulation for incorporating Life expectancy information into empirical economic welfare calculations is presented. In an application analyzing the economic progress of the African continent during the 1990s due consideration of life expectancy factors substantially modifies the conclusions...