Well-Being for Public Policy

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Abstract
The case is made for implementing national accounts of well-being to help policy makers and individuals make better decisions. Well-being is defined as people's evaluations of their lives, including concepts such as life satisfaction and happiness, and is similar to the concept of “utility” in economics. Measures of well-being in organizations, states, and nations can provide people with useful information. Importantly, accounts of well-being can help decision makers in business and government formulate better policies and regulations in order to enhance societal quality of life. Decision makers seek to implement policies and regulations that increase the quality of life, and the well-being measures are one useful way to assess the impact of policies as well as to inform debates about potential policies that address specific current societal issues. This book reviews the limitations of information gained from economic and social indicators, and shows how the well-being measures complement this information. Examples of using well-being for policy are given in four areas: health, the environment, work and the economy, and social life. Within each of these areas, examples are described of issues where well-being measures can provide policy-relevant information. Common objections to using the well-being measures for policy purposes are refuted. The well-being measures that are in place throughout the world are reviewed, and future steps in extending these surveys are described. Well-being measures can complement existing economic and social indicators, and are not designed to replace them.

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