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Abstract

Harnessing advanced analytics to address global challenges could become a hallmark of macromarketing research. But currently, such harnessing is rarely done because of the scarcity of country-level data resulting from conceptualizations and methods that are rigorously developed. This study investigates the conceptualization and methods of the Legatum Prosperity Index (LPI), which offers researchers a comprehensive measurement of country prosperity across 67 dimensions that generally align with the people, planet, and profit of sustainability. We employ both univariate and multivariate statistical techniques to verify the reliability of the LPI data, which serves as a foundation for grouping countries into configurations that uncover patterns and similarities among them. Using multivariate clustering analysis, we identify an important configuration of countries (characterized by either (1) global isolation, (2) rent-seeking, or (3) affluence) which provides insights into why some countries face challenges in their development. Our research presents evidence for the potential of the LPI as a conceptually and methodologically sound source of data for macromarketers seeking to apply sophisticated analytics. Our methods for evaluating the LPI can be applied to other emerging data sets of global quality of life or social progress.

Keywords

societal-level index quality of life index prosperity sustainable development well-being societal impact macromarketing configurations data-driven typology of countries

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Data-Driven Configurations of Global Prosperity

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