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Moving from a GDP-Based to a Well-Being Based Metric of Economic Performance and Social Progress: Results from the Index of Economic Well-Being for OECD Countries, 1980-2009

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  • Lars Osberg
  • Andrew Sharpe

Abstract

This report presents new estimates of the Index of Economic Well-being (IEWB) and its four domains (consumption flows, stocks of wealth, economic equality, and economic security) for 14 OECD countries for the 1980-2009 period. It finds that in 2009 Norway had the highest level of economic well-being and Spain the lowest. Canada ranked ninth among the fourteen countries. Over the 1980-2009 period Denmark enjoyed the most rapid increase in economic well-being, and the Netherlands the slowest. In all 14 countries rate of advance of the IEWB was less than that of GDP per capita. Economic well-being, therefore, has not advanced as rapidly as GDP per capita.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Osberg & Andrew Sharpe, 2011. "Moving from a GDP-Based to a Well-Being Based Metric of Economic Performance and Social Progress: Results from the Index of Economic Well-Being for OECD Countries, 1980-2009," CSLS Research Reports 2011-12, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    • Handle: RePEc:sls:resrep:1112
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    File URL: http://www.csls.ca/reports/csls2011-12.pdf
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    2. Andrew Sharpe & Lars Osberg, 2009. "New Estimates of the Index of Economic Well-being for Canada and the Provinces, 1981 - 2008," CSLS Research Reports 2009-10, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
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    8. Lars Osberg & Andrew Sharpe, 2002. "International Comparisons of Trends in Economic Well-being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 349-382, June.
    9. Lars Osberg, 2009. "Measuring Economic Security in Insecure Times: New Perspectives, New Events, and the Index of Economic Well-being," CSLS Research Reports 2009-12, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    10. Lars Osberg & Andrew Sharpe, 2005. "How Should We Measure The “Economic” Aspects Of Well‐Being?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 51(2), pages 311-336, June.
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    12. Andrew Sharpe & Jean-François Arsenault & Alexander Murray & Sharon Qiao, 2008. "The Valuation of the Alberta Oil Sands," CSLS Research Reports 2008-07, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    13. Lars Osberg & Andrew Sharpe, 2010. "The Index of Economic Well-Being," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(4), pages 25-42.
    14. Lars Osberg & Andrew Sharpe, 2002. "An Index of Economic Well–Being for Selected OECD Countries," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(3), pages 291-316, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Evan Capeluck, 2014. "Convergence Across Provincial Economies in Canada: Trends, Drivers, and Implications," CSLS Research Reports 2014-03, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    2. Matthew Calver, 2016. "Measuring the Appropriate Outcomes for Better Decision-Making: A Framework to Guide the Analysis of Health Policy," CSLS Research Reports 2016-03, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    3. Géraldine Thiry, 2015. "Beyond GDP: Conceptual Grounds of Quantification. The Case of the Index of Economic Well-Being (IEWB)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 121(2), pages 313-343, April.
    4. Ribas, Aline & Lucena, André F.P. & Schaeffer, Roberto, 2017. "Bridging the energy divide and securing higher collective well-being in a climate-constrained world," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 435-450.
    5. Francesca Modena & Concetta Rondinelli & Fabio Sabatini, 2014. "Economic Insecurity and Fertility Intentions: The Case of Italy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(S1), pages 233-255, May.
    6. Andrzej Woloszyn & Joanna Stanislawska & Romana Głowicka-Woloszyn & Agnieszka Kozera & Anna Rosa, 2021. "Multidimensional Assessment of Polish Farm Household Financial Security by TOPSIS and Generalised Distance Measure," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 534-553.
    7. Jasmin Thomas & James Uguccioni, 2016. "Equality and Economic Security Take a Hit: The Index of Economic Well-Being for Selected OECD Countries, 1980-2014," CSLS Research Reports 2016-06, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    8. Brendon Andrews & Jasmin Thomas, 2015. "Estimation of EU-Comparable Poverty-Related Variables in Australia, 2001-2013," CSLS Research Reports 2015-13, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    9. Michael S. Christian, 2017. "Net Investment and Stocks of Human Capital in the United States, 1975-2013," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 33, pages 128-149, Fall.
    10. Mike Pennock, 2016. "Slower Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being in the Canadian Context: A Discussion Paper," CSLS Research Reports 2016-09, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    11. N. Cordemans, 2019. "Inclusive growth: a new societal paradigm?," Economic Review, National Bank of Belgium, issue i, pages 29-50, June.
    12. Kar-Fai Gee, 2015. "Development of Estimates for Household Production of Non-Market Services in OECD Countries for the Index of Economic Well-Being," CSLS Research Reports 2015-09, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    13. Andrew Sharpe & Brendon Andrews, 2012. "An Assessment of Weighting Methodologies for Composite Indicators: The case of the Index of Economic Well-being," CSLS Research Reports 2012-10, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    14. Albino Prada & Patricio Sánchez-Fernández, 2019. "Transforming Economic Growth into Inclusive Development: An International Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 437-457, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    well-being; economic measurement; IEWB; consumption; wealth; equality; economic security;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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