Measuring our progress - The power of well-being
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Contents |
Background
Measuring our progress: The power of well-being is a report published in February 2011 by the new economics foundation (nef). nef was founded in 1986 and is an independent think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being. nef works on issues related to economic, environmental and social topics and finds solutions to related problems in creating new ways of measuring progress with a focus that puts people and the planet first. nef aims to work with all sections of society, including members of civil society groups, government, individuals, businesses and academia.[1]
About the report
In November 2010 the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, asked the Office of National Statistics to start a debate on national well-being in the United Kingdom, and to find ways to measure it. This report is an attempt by nef to describe what will be needed.
Measuring our progress describes a successful society as "one in which people have high levels of well-being which is sustained over time." Based on this definition, progress can be measured in terms of three key 'spheres':
- Goals: universally high levels of well-being.
- Resources: sustainable use of environmental resources.
- Human systems: activities that achieve intermediate objectives such as a stable and productive economy, a cohesive society, good housing, and so on.
nef believes the key relationship between these spheres is between resources and goals: "how efficient are we at achieving the goals we seek given the resources we have?"[1]
How to measure well-being
The nef's approach to measuring well-being is based on their model developed for the Government Office for Science’s 2008 Foresight project. This model draws on contemporary psychological research and ancient philosophy, and depicts well-being as a dynamic process. The model uses the idea of flourishing: people are ‘flourishing’ when they are functioning well in their interactions with the world and experience positive feelings as a result. A flourishing life involves good relationships, autonomy, competence and a sense of purpose, as well as feelings of happiness and satisfaction.
Measures of well-being should focus on flourishing, and this is best measured subjectively – by asking people about their experiences (their feelings and their interactions with the world) and about their judgments of those experiences. To do this effectively nef recommends questions based on established techniques, shown to be robust and reliable. In the long term, nef believes flourishing should be measured through a tailor-made survey to capture the richness of well-being in the UK. In the short-term, flourishing can be measured by including a small number of questions within an existing large-scale population survey.
How can well-being data affect public policy?
People’s well-being is already influenced by the decisions of policy-makers, and measuring well-being directly will provide new evidence to enable them to improve those decisions. Well-being data will have a number of uses in the policy process – they will allow policy-makers to:
- Reconsider existing policy priorities.
- Introduce new policy priorities.
- Provide better evidence of the likely impact of new policies.
- Evaluate after-the-event impacts and more accurately estimate value.
- Suggest new principles for detailed design of policy.
- Identify inequalities in well-being.
Furthermore, indicators already rule in politics: the growth rate, unemployment rate, and the inflation rate all matter deeply to the public and thus to the politicians trying to win their votes. Thus, the measures of well-being must:
- Capture something that matters to people.
- Produce results for which it is possible to blame or praise politicians.
- Reflect individual and, ideally, a shared, public experience.
- Allow comparisons to be made over time or between countries.
- Command public confidence in the neutrality of the data.
Useful definitions
Well-being (Human/Personal):
The extent to which people experience happiness and satisfaction, and are functioning well.
National well-being:
The overall state of the nation in terms of environmental sustainability, social and economic factors and human well-being.
Progress:
Achieving improvements to national well-being.
Resources:
All stocks of resources upon which human activities depend; in particular the stock of finite, non-renewable environmental resources.
Goals:
The ultimate outcomes towards which societies work: in modern, democratic societies a high proportion of people who are flourishing.
Human systems:
Human activities and social and economic processes that address intermediate objectives (e.g. peace, a stable and productive economy, pleasant surroundings, good housing, a cohesive society) which are vital for achieving the goal of widespread flourishing.
Flourishing:
Functioning well and experiencing good feelings day-to-day - and overall high well-being.
Recommendations
The nef recommends that the Office of National Statistics of the UK and other relevant government bodies should:
- Adopt a framework for understanding progress in terms of three spheres and the relationships between them: the goal of well-being for all, sustainable use of environmental resources, and the human systems that mediate between the two.
- Use the dynamic model of well-being to underpin the development of new well-being indicators.
- Incorporate five questions that measure well-being subjectively within the Integrated Household Survey.
- Develop:
- a headline index of human well-being based on these subjective measures, reported as the percentage of people who are flourishing;
- an indicator of well-being inequality – a Gini co-efficient of well-being;
- a set of objective indicators measuring the Drivers of Well-being (DoW); and eventually
- a broader set of subjective well-being indicators to fully capture the lived experience of people in the UK.
- a headline index of human well-being based on these subjective measures, reported as the percentage of people who are flourishing;
- Amend the Green Book and other policy guidance documents so that policy appraisal and decision-making is informed by well-being data.
- Encourage officials to use well-being data – particularly to facilitate work across departments and areas and to manage trade-offs between competing internal objectives – and undertake an associated capacity building programme.
- Make the data widely accessible and present them in engaging, interactive formats.[1]
See also
Download the full report here: Measuring our progress: The power of well-being
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Centre for Well-being. Measuring our progress: The power of well-being. London: the new economics foundation, 2011.
