About the Measuring Well-Being theme
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has long been used by economists to measure wealth and progress, but is it really a measure of our well-being? The presenters on this theme will argue that other factors must be considered that account for ecological health, quality of life, and well-being. The workshops will showcase some of the popular alternative indicators, consider how these have been applied at the policy level, and give specific examples of putting these new measures into practice. Speakers from the United Kingdom’s Centre for Well-Being will present their work, which includes the innovative Happy Planet Index. Researchers at Demos in New York will share their extensive US-based work. Practitioners will describe steps they have implemented for measuring quality of life at the city and state level.
Workshops
For information about the workshops, please consult our workshop page which will be updated as information becomes available.
Online Resources
Watch videos, read articles, and explore blogs and websites.
- Video: Well Being and the New Economy
- Article: The problem with GDP as a Universal Measure of Well-Being
- Blog: IPS Post on “A New Set of Tools for Measuring Economic Progress”
- Video: “What is Gross National Happiness?”
- Website: American Human Development Project’s “Human Development Index”
- Video: “Downsides to Economic Growth” — Bill McKibben
- Video: “The Problems with using GDP as an Economic Barometer” — Joseph Stiglitz
- Infographic Slideshow: Does Growth Equal Progress? The Myth of GDP -- Demos
- Video: The Happy Planet Index
- Article: The Pursuit of Happiness in Earth Island Journal by John de Graaf and Laura Musikanski
Annotated Bibliography
The annotated bibliography contains more scholarly and technical materials related to this theme. Download a pdf of the Measuring Well Being annotated bibliography here.
Related Books
Our staff has compiled book lists on each conference theme on WorldCat.org, a catalog of libraries around the world. Use WorldCat to locate a book at a library near you. Explore the Measuring Well Being book list.
Well-being in the New Economy
Watch Animation: Well-Being in the New Economy on PBS. See more from NOW on PBS.
The Problem with GDP as a Universal Measure of Well-Being
More than 70 years after its emergence, the desirability of GDP growth is so e
ntrenched in our national and international discourse that it's hard to imagine it any other way. The revered indicator's expansion or contraction can swing national elections. Conversely, talk of GDP declines can drive a country to war...read more
Graphic Representation of America's Wealth Distribution
More Charts Illustrating Economic Inequality in America
What is Gross National Happiness?
The Human Development Index as an Alternative Measure of Well-Being
The Social Science Research Center's American Human Development Project
An interactive map of the Human Development Index in the U.S.
Bill McKibben Speaks on The Downsides to Economic Growth
Joseph Stiglitz on the Problems with using GDP as an Economic Barometer
Does Growth Equal Progress? The Myth of GDP
Infographic Slideshow from Demos
Demos has created a set of infographics that plots important social measures against GDP growth.
Click here to start the slideshow.
The Happy Planet Index
In the words of Robert F. Kennedy, why does Gross National Product "measure everything [...] except that which makes life worthwhile"? Happiness and health are what we really want, but we have the perception that those things can be measured on an economic scale. If happiness is what we want most, why aren't we measuring it directly?
Good news: statistician Nic Marks does just that. Watch as Marks explains the Happy Planet Index, his alternative to GDP, and what it tells us about which countries are really the happiest.
The Pursuit of Happiness
We must develop another measure of happiness. The effort to create new, more accurate indicators of progress takes on new urgency given the cascading destruction to the environment. Our understanding (or misunderstanding) of happiness isn't only a threat to our personal well-being. It's also a threat to the very ecosystems on which we depend. Redefining how we calculate progress has become a cultural imperative as well as a personal one.
