Girl Power.

In advance of the 20th Human Development Index release, a new paper finds that a country’s economic development does not necessarily lead to human development factors like longer life expectancy, community health, or even a decent standard of living: “Although correlated, we do not find evidence to suggest that human development trends can be explained by factors associated with economic growth.… Social factors seem to be driving the aggregate human development story.… We believe the underlying drivers of these changes are linked to individual and household-level decisions concerning fertility and female schooling.… Changes in gender roles (literacy, fertility and labor participation) are a robust driver of human development achievements over time.” (via)