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The Wellbeing of Nations: Meaning, Motive and Measurement
ISBN: 978-1-118-48957-4
September 2014
288 pages
‘A great book that adds much needed well-reasoned argument and weight to the global debate on how we better measure what is getting better and what is not. Hand and Allin chart a series of paths away from the beguiling simplicity of GDP, show where those routes began and to where they might lead. Slowly we are learning to better count what really matters in our lives. This book explains the international collaboration behind this new learning and moves it far forward.’
—Daniel Dorling, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
How and why to use new measures of national wellbeing
We have known for many years that standard measures of a country’s economic performance, like GDP and GNP, fail to tell the whole story about progress and wellbeing.
The Wellbeing of Nations explores national and cross-national initiatives to build wider measures. It covers economic performance, quality of life, the state of the environment, progress, development and sustainability. The authors take the view that national wellbeing —how a country is doing —embraces all these aspects and so measures of real progress need these dimensions.
This book:
The authors note that it is still early days in the practical application of these wider measures by government and business, but that use should be the main factor driving their development and production. Aspirations are high and there is much to be gained by the use of such wider measures of national wellbeing, progress and development around the world.
The Wellbeing of Nations is aimed at statisticians, economists, social researchers and policy makers in government, including national and international statistics offices. Academics in development studies, economics, environmental studies, positive psychology, health research, anthropology, political studies and sociology will also benefit from this book.