IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v114y2013i1p73-86.html

Measuring Subjective Well-Being and its Potential Role in Policy: Perspectives from the UK Office for National Statistics

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Hicks

  • Lucy Tinkler

  • Paul Allin

Abstract

Measures of subjective well-being are one component of the measurement of the quality of life and progress of a nation. The Office for National Statistics approach, as part of the Measuring National Well-being programme, has been to include such measures alongside more objective measures in order to gain a full picture of “how things are going” and to better inform public policy. These estimates are considered experimental and further testing and development is underway. However, it is argued that subjective well-being measures have a potential role in the policy process and this article considers how they could be used in policy making within the UK. Copyright UK Crown 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Hicks & Lucy Tinkler & Paul Allin, 2013. "Measuring Subjective Well-Being and its Potential Role in Policy: Perspectives from the UK Office for National Statistics," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 73-86, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:114:y:2013:i:1:p:73-86
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-013-0384-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11205-013-0384-x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-013-0384-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ed Diener, 1994. "Assessing subjective well-being: Progress and opportunities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 103-157, February.
    2. John F. Helliwell, 2011. "How Can Subjective Well-being Be Improved?," New Directions for Intelligent Government in Canada: Papers in Honour of Ian Stewart, in: Fred Gorbet & Andrew Sharpe (ed.),New Directions for Intelligent Government in Canada: Papers in Honour of Ian Stewart, pages 283-304, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    3. Angus Deaton, 2012. "The financial crisis and the well-being of Americans," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(1), pages 1-26, January.
    4. Dolan, Paul & Peasgood, Tessa & White, Mathew, 2008. "Do we really know what makes us happy A review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 94-122, February.
    5. Paul Dolan & Richard Layard & Robert Metcalfe, 2011. "Measuring Subjective Wellbeing for Public Policy: Recommendations on Measures," CEP Reports 23, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lucy Tinkler, 2015. "The Office For National Statistics Experience Of Collecting And Measuring Subjective Well-Being," Statistics in Transition New Series, Polish Statistical Association, vol. 16(3), pages 373-396, September.
    2. Lucy Tinkler, 2015. "The Office for National Statistics Experience of Collecting and Measuring Subjective Well-Being," Statistics in Transition new series, Główny Urząd Statystyczny (Polska), vol. 16(3), pages 373-396, September.
    3. Tinkler Lucy, 2015. "The Office for National Statistics Experience of Collecting and Measuring Subjective Well-Being," Statistics in Transition New Series, Statistics Poland, vol. 16(3), pages 373-396, September.
    4. Violeta Misheva, 2016. "What Determines Emotional Well-Being? The Role of Adverse Experiences: Evidence Using Twin Data," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 1921-1937, October.
    5. Tomas Hanell, 2022. "Unmet Aspirations and Urban Malaise," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 83-103, November.
    6. George Ward, 2015. "Is Happiness a Predictor of Election Results?," CEP Discussion Papers dp1343, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Yang, Lin, 2018. "Measuring well-being: a multidimensional index integrating subjective well-being and preferences," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87789, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Bertoni, Marco, 2015. "Hungry today, unhappy tomorrow? Childhood hunger and subjective wellbeing later in life," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 40-53.
    9. Ferreira, Susana & Akay, Alpaslan & Brereton, Finbarr & Cuñado, Juncal & Martinsson, Peter & Moro, Mirko & Ningal, Tine F., 2013. "Life satisfaction and air quality in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-10.
    10. Julia S. Granderath & Andreas Martin & Laura Froehlich, 2021. "The Effect of Participation in Adult Education on Life Satisfaction of Immigrants and Natives: A Longitudinal Analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 3043-3067, October.
    11. Gregor Gonza & Anže Burger, 2017. "Subjective Well-Being During the 2008 Economic Crisis: Identification of Mediating and Moderating Factors," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1763-1797, December.
    12. David Blanchflower & Andrew Oswald & Sarah Stewart-Brown, 2013. "Is Psychological Well-Being Linked to the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 785-801, December.
    13. Voerman-Tam, Diana & Grimes, Arthur & Watson, Nicholas, 2023. "The economics of free speech: Subjective wellbeing and empowerment of marginalized citizens," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 260-274.
    14. Jiayuan Li & John Raine, 2014. "The Time Trend of Life Satisfaction in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(2), pages 409-427, April.
    15. Masferrer-Dodas, Elena & Rico-Garcia, Luis & Huanca, Tomás & Reyes-García, Victoria, 2012. "Consumption of market goods and wellbeing in small-scale societies: An empirical test among the Tsimane' in the Bolivian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 213-220.
    16. Dolan, Paul & Metcalfe, Robert, 2012. "The relationship between innovation and subjective wellbeing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(8), pages 1489-1498.
    17. David Bayliss & Wendy Olsen & Pierre Walthery, 2017. "Well-Being During Recession in the UK," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 369-387, June.
    18. Ruut Veenhoven, 2017. "Greater Happiness for a Greater Number: Did the Promise of Enlightenment Come True?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 9-25, January.
    19. Mujcic, Redzo, 2014. "Are fruit and vegetables good for our mental and physical health? Panel data evidence from Australia," MPRA Paper 59149, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Yang, Lin, 2017. "Measuring individual well-being: A multidimensional index integrating subjective well-being and preferences," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103495, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:114:y:2013:i:1:p:73-86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.