Nations routinely assess economic and social progress by measuring productivity, growth, longevity, and other objective indicators, and they then use the measures to guide policy. Yet the classic metrics do not directly assess an important goal of economic and social policies: improvements in people's own evaluations of their well-being. Improving people's feelings of well-being is important in its own right and can lead to enhanced personal and national economic prosperity. Today, governments at all levels—as well as businesses and community organizations—are increasingly complementing the standard measures with data from surveys that ask respondents about their day-to-day happiness, overall satisfaction with life, and sense of purpose. In this article, the authors describe many examples of how governments and other organizations are applying these measures of subjective well-being to inform and improve policy decisions.
References
1.
NikolovaM. (2018). What makes work meaningful and what economists should care about it [Working paper]. Groningen, the Netherlands: University of Groningen.
2.
GrahamC., LaffanK., & PintoS. (2018, October 19). Well-being in metrics and policy. Science, 362, 287–288.
3.
De NeveJ.-E., DienerE., TayL., & XuerebC. (2013). The objective benefits of subjective well-being. In HelliwellJ., LayardR., & J. Sachs (Eds.), World happiness report 2013 (pp. 54–79). New York, NY: United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
4.
EasterlinR. A., MorganR., SwitekM., & WangF. (2012). China's life satisfaction, 1990–2010. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 109, 9775–9780.
5.
GrahamC., ZhouS., & ZhangJ. (2017). Happiness and health in China: The paradox of progress. World Development, 96, 231–244.
DienerE., & LucasR. E. (1999). Personality and subjective well-being. In KahnemanD., DienerE., & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of a hedonic psychology (pp. 213–229). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
8.
LayardR., NickellS., & MayrazG. (2008). The marginal utility of income. Journal of Public Economics, 92, 1846–1857.
9.
Di TellaR., & MacCullochR. (2010). Happiness adaptation to income and to status in an individual panel. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 76, 834–852.
10.
ClarkA., & OswaldA. (2002). A simple statistical method for measuring how life events affect happiness. International Journal of Epidemiology, 31, 1139–1144.
11.
EasterlinR. A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In DavidP. A. & RederM. W. (Eds.), Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in honor of Moses Abramovitz (pp. 89–125). New York, NY: Academic Press.
12.
LayardR., ClarkA., FlècheS., WardG., & PowdthaveeN. (2018). The origins of happiness: The science of well-being over the life course.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
13.
FrijtersP., JohnstonD., & ShieldsM. A. (2011). Happiness dynamics with quarterly life event data. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 113, 190–211.
14.
LucasR. E., ClarkA. E., GeorgellisY., & DienerE. (2003). Reexamining adaptation and the set point model of happiness: Reactions to changes in marital status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 527–539.
15.
JohnstonD. W., & Lee, W.-S. (2013). Extra status and extra stress: Are promotions good for us?Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 66, 32–54.
16.
BonannoG. A., WortmanC. B., LehmanD. R., TweedR. G., HaringM., SonnegaJ., … Nesse, R. M. (2002). Resilience to loss and chronic grief: A prospective study from preloss to 18-months postloss. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1150–1164.
17.
DienerE., LucasR. E., & ScollonC. N. (2006). Beyond the hedonic treadmill: Revising the adaptation theory of well-being. American Psychologist, 61, 305–314. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.4.305
18.
StoneA., & MackieC. (2013). Subjective well-being: Measuring happiness, suffering, and other dimensions of human experience.Washington, DC: National Research Council of the National Academies.
19.
GrahamC., & NikolovaN. (2015). Bentham or Aristotle in the development process? An empirical investigation of capabilities and subjective well-being around the world. World Development, 68, 163–179.
20.
KahnemanD., & DeatonA. (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 107, 16489–16493.
21.
DolanP. (2014). Happiness by design: Finding pleasure and purpose in everyday life. London, United Kingdom: Penguin.
22.
GrahamC. (2009). Happiness around the world: The paradox of happy peasants and miserable millionaires. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
23.
GrahamC. (2016). Unequal life chances and choices: How subjective well-being metrics can inform benefit-cost analysis. Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, 7, 121–146. https://doi.org/10.1017/bca.2015.59
24.
GrahamC., & PettinatoS. (2002). Frustrated achievers: Winners, losers and subjective well-being in new market economies. Journal of Development Studies, 202, 100–140.
25.
O'DonnellG., & OswaldA. (2015). National well-being policy and a weighted approach to human feelings. Ecological Economics, 120, 59–70.
26.
BenjaminD. J., HeffetzO., KimballM. S., & SzembrotN. (2014). Beyond happiness and satisfaction: Toward well-being indices based on stated preference. American Economic Review, 104, 2698–2735.
27.
BondT. N., & LangK. (2018). The sad truth about happiness scales: Empirical results (NBER Working Paper No. 24853). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
28.
MontgomeryM. (2017). Reversing the gender gap in happiness: Validating the use of life satisfaction self-reports worldwide. Unpublished manuscript. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
29.
ChenL.-Y., OparinaE., PowdthaveeN., & SrisumaS. (2019). Have econometric analyses of happiness data been futile? A simple truth about happiness scales (IZA Discussion Paper No. 12152). Bonn, Germany: IZA Institute of Labor Economics.
30.
ExtonC., & ShinwellM. (2018). Policy use of well-being metrics: Describing countries’ experiences (OECD Statistics Working Paper No. 2018/07). Paris, France: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. https://doi.org/10.1787/d98eb8ed-en
ClarkD. M., CanvinL., GreenJ., LayardR., PillingS., & JaneckaM. (2017). Transparency about the outcomes of mental health services (IAPT approach): An analysis of public data. Lancet, 391, 679–686.
FujitaF., & DienerE. (2005). Life satisfaction set point: Stability and change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 158–164.
40.
HelliwellJ. F. (2018). What's special about happiness as a social indicator?Social Indicators Research, 135, 965–968.
41.
WeinsteinN. D. (1982). Community noise problems: Evidence against adaptation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2, 87–97.
42.
BinderM., & FreytagA. (2013). Volunteering, subjective well-being and public policy. Journal of Economic Psychology, 34, 97–119.
43.
MervinM. C., & FrijterP. (2014). Is shared misery double misery?Social Science and Medicine, 107, 68–77.
44.
StansfeldS. A., FuhrerR., ShipleyM. J., & MarmotM. G. (1999). Work characteristics predict psychiatric disorder: Prospective results from the Whitehall II study. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 56, 302–307.
45.
KuperH., & MarmotM. (2003). Job strain, job demands, decision latitude, and risk of coronary heart disease within the Whitehall II study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 57, 147–153.
LayardR. (2005). Happiness: Lessons from a new science. New York, NY: Penguin.
49.
BinderM., & CoadA. (2011). From Average Joe's happiness to Miserable Jane and Cheerful John: Using quantile regression to analyze the full subjective well-being distribution. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 79, 275–290.
50.
VinokurA. D., SchulY., VuoriJ., & PriceR. H. (2000). Two years after a job loss: Long-term impact of the JOBS program on reemployment and mental health. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5, 32–47.
51.
DaguerreA., & EtheringtonD. (2009). Active labour market policies in international context: What works best? Lessons for the UK. London, United Kingdom: Department for Work and Pensions.
CouttsA. P., StucklerD., & CannD. J. (2014). The health and wellbeing effects of active labor market programs. In HuppertF. A. & CooperC. L. (Eds.), Wellbeing: A complete reference guide. Vol. 6: Interventions and policies to enhance wellbeing (pp. 465–482). London, United Kingdom: Wiley.
FujiwaraD., KudrnaL., & DolanP. (2014). Quantifying and valuing the wellbeing impacts of culture and sport. London, United Kingdom: Department for Culture, Media & Sport.
FujiwaraD., HotoppU., KeohaneK., LagardeA., LawtonR., MaxwellC., … Clayton, V. (2017). Valuing heritage impacts: A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down. London, United Kingdom: Department for Transport and Highways.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2018). Cost-benefit analysis and the environment: Further developments and policy use. Paris, France: Author.
62.
FujiwaraD., & CampbellD. (2011). Valuation techniques for social cost benefit analysis: Stated preference, revealed preference and subjective well-being approaches—A discussion of the current issues. London, United Kingdom: Her Majesty's Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions.
63.
GrahamC., HigueraL., & LoraE. (2011). Which health conditions cause the most unhappiness?Health Economics, 20, 1431–1447.
NgT. (in press). Using well-being measures to inform policy change in New Zealand. In AcharyaK. & A. Plough (Eds.), Well-being in a culture of health. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
ClarkA. E. (2016). SWB as a measure of individual well-being. In AdlerM. D. & FleurbaeyM. (Eds.), Oxford handbook of well-being and public policy (pp. 518–552). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
