Roy CarrHill for Radical Statistics 34 th February 2012 PREAMBLE In a provocative new study a pair of Nobel prizewinning economists Joseph E Stiglitz and Amartya Sen urge the adoption of new assessment tools that incorporate a broader concern for human welfare than just ID: 491097
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Slide1
Measuring Well-Being
Roy Carr-Hill for Radical Statistics 34
th
February 2012Slide2
PREAMBLESlide3
“In
a provocative new study, a pair of Nobel prize-winning economists, Joseph E.
Stiglitz
and
Amartya
Sen
, urge the adoption of new assessment tools that incorporate a broader concern for human welfare than just economic growth. By their reckoning, much of the contemporary economic disaster owes to the misbegotten assumption that policy makers simply had to focus on nurturing growth, trusting that this would maximize prosperity for all
.”
file
:///C:/cuql%20again/Stiglitz,%20Amartya%20Sen%20GDP%20A%20Poor%20Measure%20Of%20Growth.mhtSlide4
How do we measure these broader concerns?
Through happiness or satisfaction measures?
With ‘objective’ surrogate measures of deprivation / fulfilment?
Does the UNDP HDI workSlide5
Seers (1975)
There are virtually no statistics anywhere on most of the aspects of life that really matter – the average distance people have to carry water and food; the number without shoes; the extent of overcrowding; the prevalence of violence; how many are unable to multiply one number by another, or summarise their own country’s history (Seers, 1983, pp.5-6)Slide6
Theoretically Based Systems: Basic Needs
Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy from physiological, to safety to belongingness to esteem needs
Difficulties with hierarchical point of view (death of partners, political causes; people value sets of relationships on different levels)
1976 ILO developed basic needs to:
Certain minimum requirements of family for private consumption and household goods
Essential services provided by and for community at large (education, health, transport, water)
Objectives defined in physical termsSlide7
Theory of Need for Industrialised Societies
Doyal
and Gough (1991) suggest:
Avoidance of physical harm
Importance of autonomous choices: what is crucial are real opportunities to act and change one’s life and conditions
Arguments are coherent with those of
Habermas
(1984) for liberal democracy, of Rawls (1971) for maximised rights and goods for all; and of
Sen
(1992) for capabilities and entitlementsSlide8
ONS – under instruction –module
On the subjective front, work started in April, with four extra questions to the 200,000 people in the
Integrated Household Survey (IHS)
. People were answer the following questions, on a scale of 0 to 10:
• how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
• how happy did you feel yesterday?
• how anxious did you feel yesterday?
• to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?Slide9
Empirical bases for measuring Q o L
Subjective happiness:
Systematic approach to measuring happiness developed by Andrews and
Withey
(1976)
Adequate income + good health + rewarding social relationships = happiness?
Subjective indicators: not robust (
Goldthorpe
example); ONS finds that respondents score around 7 out of 10
Halo effect: people’s general views about an institution colour their responses to about specific interactions with the services; people tend to respond in the same kind of way to quite different questionsSlide10
OUR APPROACHSlide11
Eclectic Approach
Several theories of what constitutes well-being and a variety of approaches to measurement, tend to converge.
Considerable degree of consensus, although variation about what exactly to include and relative importance of each element
Government social reports tend to be similarSlide12
Four Distinctive Characteristics
Beyond certain minima, unclear how additional consumption adds to welfare
Important to consider everyone’s perspectives
More emphasis on monitoring collective well-being both in terms of inequality and human rights and reducing ecological damage
Recognition that there is such a thing as society; so externalities have to be consideredSlide13
Moving beyond Minima
Definition of universal set of basic needs probably not possible except at very abstract level (e.g. survival), but concerns with survival and health, autonomy and self-esteem, etc., generate a set of minima (ref. Poor Britain)
Social Limits to Growth (Hirsch) argumentSlide14
Consider Everyone’s Perspectives
Plato: Truth and Beauty
Aristotle and Marx:
enobled
creative activity; but long hours unnecessary in terms of utility of what is produced
Locke: a (
wo
)man defined by what (s)he had; or continuation of capitalism, people have to believe that they are what they own
Q o L also depends on how we relate to each other in society
Superficially similar to
Allardty
(1975) and
Ekins
and Max-
Neef
(1992)
Difference is we see ‘being’, ‘doing’, ‘having ‘, ‘relating’, ‘surviving’ as different perspectivesSlide15
Monitor Collective Well-Being
Cross-cutting or Societal Concerns:
Inequality whether defined by gender, generation, geography or
s.e.s
. Complete definition would require data linkage
Democracy, or extent to which people feel able to influence decisions that affect them
Societal concern with constraint on economic activity to ensure ecological damage reducedSlide16
There is such a thing as Society