This paper argues that measures of life satisfaction, now being collected annually by the Gallup World Poll in more than 130 countries, permit a much broader view of the quality and consequences of development than other common measures. While these data show the importance of conventionally measured economic development, they also show the importance of many other elements of life that are also affected, whether deliberately or not, by community, national, and international institutions and policies. In estimating the importance of these other factors, this paper pays special attention to the social context of well-being: the norms, networks and relationships within which lives are lived.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
14507.
Length: Date of creation: Nov 2008 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14507
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics O0 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - General O10 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General P51 - Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems
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