National Accounts of Well-Being

= Background  =

In January 2009, the [http://www.neweconomics.org/ new economics foundation (nef)] launched the '''National Accounts of Well-Being''' (NAWB): a radical robust proposal to guide the direction of modern societies. The NAWB have been created in reaction to the fact that indicators such as GDP have only reflected a narrow perspective of human welfare. NAWB also result from the fact that such indicators as GDP have hidden other vital parts of economy such as economy of family, neighborhood, community and society, and the natural economy of biosphere, oceans, forests and fields. Their authors claim to shift towards more meaningful measures of progress which capture the richness of people’s lived experience.<br> 

<br> 

= Major objectives of NAWB<br>  =

They offer countries a chance to re-think the way they define success and work to improve the lives their citizens. In particular they propose: 

<br> 

*'''A new way of assessing societal progress''': how people feel and experience their lives, help to redefine our notions of national progress. 
*'''A cross-cutting and more informative approach to policy-making''': provide policy-makers with a better chance of understanding the real impact of their decisions on people’s lives by capturing population well-being across areas of traditional policy-making,and looking beyond narrow, efficiency-driven economic indicators. 
*'''Better engagement between national governments and the public''': provide opportunities for national governments to reconnect with their citizens taking in account what people care about.

<br> 

= National Accounts Framework<ref>from the "National Accounts of Well-Being" report http://cdn.media70.com/national-accounts-of-well-being-report.pdf</ref>  =

The authors of NAWB define well-being as the dynamic process that gives people a sense of how their lives are going through the interaction between their circumstances, activities and psychological resources of ‘mental capital’. They point out that whilst a combination of objective and subjective factors are important for assessing well-being, it is the subjective dimensions which have, to date, been lacking in any assessment by national government.<br>

<br>Given the multiplicity and dynamism of what constitutes and contributes to people’s well-being, the framework of NAWB captures:<br>

*&nbsp;More than life satisfaction: the framework is based on indicators that look beyond single item questions and captures more than simply life satisfaction.<br>
*Personal and social dimension: given the scientifically proved importance of relationships to others in well-being, the framework measures the social dimension of well-being as well as the personal dimension.<br>
*Feelings, functioning and psychological resources: the framework moves beyond a conception of well-being as experiencing good feeling and making positive judgments about life, to also measure how people are doing, in terms of functioning and the realization of their potential.

The working model is based on two headline measures which capture personal and social well-being, reflecting crucial aspects of how people their lives. This model is illustrated below.<br><br>

'''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Figure 1 – Indicator structure within the example national accounts framework''' 

[[Image:Nef1.jpg]] 

<br> 

'''Personal well-being '''is made up of five main components, some of which are broken down further into sub-components. These are: 

*'''Emotional well-being'''. The overall balance between the frequency of experiencing positive and negative emotions, with higher scores showing that positive emotions are felt more often than negative ones. This is comprised of the subcomponents:<br>- '''''Positive feelings'''''– How often positive emotions are felt.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; - '''''Absence of negative feelings'''''– The frequency with which negative emotions are felt, with higher scores representing less&nbsp;&nbsp; frequent negative emotions. 

<br> 

*'''Satisfying life'''. Having positive evaluation of your life overall, representing the results of four questions about satisfaction and life evaluations.

<br> 

*'''Vitality'''. Having energy, feeling well-rested and healthy, and being physically active.

<br> 

*'''Resilience and self-esteem'''. A measure of individuals’ psychological resources. It comprises the subcomponents:

&nbsp;&nbsp; -&nbsp;'''''Self-esteem'''''– Feeling good about yourself. 

&nbsp;&nbsp; - '''''Optimism''''' – Feeling optimistic about your future. 

&nbsp;&nbsp; - '''''Resilience''''' – Being able to deal with life’s difficulties. 

<br> 

*'''Positive functioning'''. This can be summed up as ‘doing well’. It includes four subcomponents:

&nbsp;&nbsp; - '''''Autonomy''''' – Feeling free to do what you want and having the time to do it. 

&nbsp;&nbsp; - '''''Competence''''' – Feeling accomplishment from what you do and being able to make use of your abilities. 

&nbsp;&nbsp; - '''''Engagement''''' – Feeling absorbed in what you are doing and that you have opportunities to learn. 

&nbsp;&nbsp; - '''''Meaning and purpose'''''– Feeling that what you do in life is valuable, worthwhile and valued by others. 

<br> 

'''Social well-being''' is made up of two main components: 

*'''Supportive relationships'''. The extent and quality of interactions in close relationships with family, friends and others who provide support.

<br> 

*'''Trust and belonging'''. Trusting other people, being treated fairly and respectfully by them, and feeling a sense of belonging with and support from people where you live.

<br> 

= Findings from NAWB<br> =

The nef's NAWB have given risen to surprising results in the picture of the relative progress of European countries.<br>

The findings reveal that :<br>

*'''Countries with hig levels if personal well-being do not necesseraly have high levels of social well-being, and vice versa''' : the interest of these findings in terms of decision-making is to shed light on the importance for policy maker to better identify the economic, social and political structures in the highly scored countries which succeed in promoting the elements of social well-being beyond the levels expected from examining person weel-being.<br>
*'''Scandinavian countries are the top performers on overall well-being, whilst Central and Eastern European countries have the lowest well-being'''. <br>
*'''Levels of well-being inquality vary considerably between countries'''<br>
*'''Well-being profiles reaveal remarkables variation accross European nations&nbsp;'''<br>
*'''Comparing Well-being Profiles helps to uncover differences in countries which are similar on other measures of national welfare. '''
*'''The relationship between the conditions of people's lives and their subjective experiences of life is complex and demands a textured assessment of well-being to be fully understood.'''

= References  =

"[http://cdn.media70.com/national-accounts-of-well-being-report.pdf The National Accounts of Well-Being]" report, pp 21<br> 

<br> 

= See Also  =

*[[Trust]] 
*[[Human Well-Being|Human Well-Being]]

<br> 

= External links&nbsp;  =

*[http://www.neweconomics.org/ new economics foundation website] 
*[http://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&ved=0CCcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.media70.com%2Fnational-accounts-of-well-being-report.pdf&ei=3fT8S8SyGJ-V4gaM8dGhCw&usg=AFQjCNGMXknNiWdb5okqlcEkQK6dgf4SLA "National Accounts of Well-being" Report]

<br>