G. Madonia Department of International Business and Economics, University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS

What I do Measure different dimensions of ‘well-being’ for the EU- 15 countries for 1999, 2004 and 2009 Well-being is measured to match the criteria set out in the Stiglitz Report (2009) using a variety of different indicators I compare the rankings of the EU-15 countries according to GDP per capita with these different dimensions, as well according to a summary measure of wider well-being 2

What the Report does The Stiglitz Report focuses on the pros and cons of GDP: good for measuring economic production & monitoring economic activity, less so for measuring people’s well-being It refers to 8 dimensions of well-being: Material living standards, Health, Education, Personal activities including work, Political voice and governance, Social connections and relationships, Environment (present and future) and Insecurity (physical and economic) It produces 12 Recommendations: on countries’ material performance (eg use income, consumption and wealth not GDP), on assessing people’s QoL (health, education, inequalities, environment but also look at outputs not inputs), and on sustainability. Considers both objective and subjective measures (eg surveys). 3

Previous literature Papers after Stiglitz Easterlin (2010), Noll (2011), Rojas (2011), Madonia, Cracolici and Cuffaro (2012) Related literature on social indicators Measuring economic and social performance via construction of composite indicators: Hobijn and Franses (2001), UNDP (1990), Sagar and Najam (1998), Osberg and Sharpe (2002), Marchante and Ortega (2006), Berenger and Verdier Chouchane (2007) etc 4

My analysis Measure different dimensions of well-being using available data from Eurostat, World Bank and OECD Where there are multiple indicators PCA is used to group the different indicators together into a composite measure Compare rankings and correlations across different measures over different time periods and with the implications of GDP per capita 5

GDP comparisons over time 6

GDP ranking Austria244 Belgium787 Germany898 Denmark365 Spain13 Finland11109 France1211 Greece14 Ireland623 Italy1012 Luxembourg111 Netherlands432 Portugal15 Sweden556 UK9710 7

Dimensions of wider well-being Material Well-Being: Real adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita Final consumption expenditure of households in PPS per capita Household Net Financial Wealth (ratio of NFA to Liabilities over Gross Disposable Income with some adjustment for change in net equity of households in PFs reserves) GINI coefficient, measure of income inequality Average number of usual weekly hours of work in main job, proxy for leisure 8

Dimensions of wider well-being 2 Quality of Life: Health: Life expectancy at birth, Infant mortality rate, Standardized Death Rate Education: Total Participation Rate in Education, Ratio of Total Graduates in ISCED 5_6 to population, Percentage of the population aged 25 to 64 having completed at least upper secondary education, PISA Test Math, PISA Test Science, PISA Test Reading Personal Security: Fatal accidents at work, Crimes recorded by the police Economic Security: Unemployment rate, long-term unemployment rate, Youth unemployment, Risk of Poverty and Exclusion After Social Transfers 9

Dimensions of wider well-being 3 Environment: Co2 Ratio Spending on the environment Sustainability: Adjusted Net Saving % of GNI 10

Country rankings of material well- being vs GDP 11

Country rankings by material well- being & GDP GDPMWBGDPMWBGDPMWB Austria Belgium Germany Denmark Spain Finland France Ireland Italy Netherlands Portugal13 Sweden UK

Country rankings by quality of life and GDP 13

Country rankings by quality of life & GDP GDPQOLGDPQOLGDPQOL Austria Belgium Germany Denmark Spain Finland France Greece Ireland Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Portugal Sweden UK

Country rankings of material well- being vs Quality of Life 15

Country rankings of environment quality vs GDP 16

Country rankings by environment quality & GDP GDPENVGDPENVGDPENV Austria Belgium Germany Denmark Spain Finland France Greece Ireland Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Portugal Sweden UK

Country rankings of sustainability vs GDP 18

Country rankings by sustainability & GDP GDPSUSGDPSUSGDPSUS Austria Belgium Germany Denmark Spain Finland France Greece Ireland Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Portugal Sweden UK

Country rankings of wider well- being vs GDP 20

Country rankings by wider well- being and GDP GDPWWBGDPWWBGDPWWB Austria Belgium Germany Denmark Spain Finland France Greece Ireland Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Portugal Sweden UK

Conclusion I examine the wider well-being of EU-15 countries in 1999, 2004 and 2009 using proxies for the various concepts suggested by the Stiglitz Report. Some aspects of wider well-being do not appear well represented by GDP, particularly the environment and sustainability and to a lesser extent QoL. Though there seems to be some positive link between GDP and wider well-being, it is far from uniform. Further research needed to explore additional indicators and different weighting schemes. 22