nef’s call for the introduction of National Accounts of Well-being is gathering support from a range of leading thinkers and commentators, including Professor Lord Richard Layard founder-director of the London School of Economics Centre for Economic Performance. He writes:
“If policy makers are to make well-being a central objective they have to have ways of measuring it. So guidance on this is crucial. This is why this report is so important. It represents a valuable contribution to the search for a common system of measurement which could be widely used to change the basis on which policy is made.”
As the limitations of a myopic focus on growth alone become increasingly obvious, an alternative measure of societal progress is urgently needed. According to a 2006 poll, 81 per cent of British people support the idea that the Government’s prime objective should be the ‘greatest happiness’ rather than the greatest wealth’ and in January 2008, French President Nicholas Sarkozy set up a special commission to develop new ways of measuring economic performance and social progress which takes into account well-being.
In the UK, the UK Conservative Party’s Quality of Life Policy Group noted in 2007 that in wealthy countries, a continuing increase in economic growth is not increasing well-being and advocated the development of a “more reliable indicator of progress than GDP”.
Enrico Giovannini, Chief Statistician, OECD, said:
Read more about the growing support for National Accounts of Well-being.
