1. BES Equitable and Sustainable Well-being in Italy
Tommaso Rondinella, Istat
EMOS course,
University of Pisa
9th November 2016

2. Development and Well-being
GDP growth =
Economic performance
Development and Well-being

3. Development and Well-being
GDP growth ≠
Economic performance
Development and Well-being

4. GDP and economic performance
Major GDP limitations
Does not reflect income distribution
Does not include important parts of economic activity (housework, informal sectors, volunteering)
Does not take into account «negative externalities»
Includes defensive expenditures
Underestimates the value of public services

5. GDP and economic performance
Net disposable income as percentage of GDP for USA, France and Ireland
source: OECD, Annual National Accounts

6. GDP and economic performance
Real income per capita in France compared to the United States, 2005 (Unites States = 100)
Including housework and leisure
Including public services
Unadjusted disposable household income.
GDP
Including housework

7. GDP and well-being
Esterlin paradox
Climate change

8. Recent developments
2004 – Palermo – OECD World Forum on Key Indicators. Statistics, Knowledge and Policy.
2006 – Istanbul Declaration + Global Project on measuring the progress of societies.
2007 – WWF, Club of Rome, EP – Beyond GDP (Barroso: “It’s time to go beyond GDP”).
2008 – Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission.
2009 – European Commission – COM “GDP and Beyond”.
2010 – Europe 2020
2011 – DGINS – Sofia Memorandum
2011- OECD Better Life Initiative. “How’s Life”
2011 – Eurostat –Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-being and Sustainable Development.
2013 – First BES Report
2015 – 2030 Agenda and SDGs

9. EC COM “GDP and Beyond”
It identifies five key actions for the short and medium term:
1: Complement GDP with environmental and social indicators (a comprehensive environmental index, quality of life and well-being).
2: Provide near real-time information for decision-making (more timely environmental and social indicators).
3: Report more accurately on distribution and inequalities
4: Develop a European sustainable development scoreboard (coordinated by Directorate General for Environment (DG ENV).
5: Extend national accounts to environmental and social issues

10. ESS Sponsorship group objectives
National accounts data on household income and consumption
distribution of households income, consumption and wealth non-market domestic activities and leisure time
developing EU-SILC as the core instrument for measuring the quality of life, incl. through incorporating further topics and subjective questions
establish an expert group on quality of life
reinforcing environmental and economic accounts on energy, climate change and material consumption
deriving so called "footprint indicators" from national accounts
developing environmental accounts relating to goods and services, environmental protection expenditure and natural assets
developing landscape and biodiversity indicators
improving data of water and waste

11. BES

12. “What we measure affects what we do” Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report
Measures and action
Wellbeing is a multidimensional concept which changes according to time, places and cultures.
The identification of dimensions and indicators to measure such a concept is always an exercise that reflects norms, values and priorities of those who participate in the selection process
“What we measure affects what we do”
Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report

13. A shared approach: deliberation and legitimacy
Statistical information, in order to be followed by political action, needs to have a certain degree of legitimacy.
A legitimate decision does not represent everyone’s will, but stems from everyone’s deliberation.
Manin 1987
The choice of the phenomena to monitor coincides with the selection of policy priorities.
In Italy we adopted a complex approach to share all decision at every steps not only with the experts but with the civil society at large.

14. The Istat-Cnel initiative
Steering Committee: with the participation of 33 stakeholders (CNEL representatives, NGO networks, women / consumers / environmental organizations) and Istat experts, to identify the domains and to agree on the final list of indicators
Scientific Commission: with the participation of 80 experts in different fields, to select indicators for each domain.
Public consultation:
National survey
Online survey
Blog
Regional meetings

15. BES: a complex approach
Annual survey on what is important for wellbeing
(24k households)
12 Dimensions
Steering Committee
Online survey (2500 people)
and Blog
Scientific commission
Discussion
Meetings in every region
and Blog
134
Indicators
Final report

16. What is important for your well-being?
Score from 0 to 10 given to wellbeing dimensions – Year 2011
Mean
% of 10
Being in good health
9,7
79,9
Guarantee the future of you children socially and economically
9,3
66,1
Have a decent work of which being satisfied
9,2
59,5
Have an adequate income
9,1
56,0
Good relationships with friends and relatives
53,2
Be happy in love
9,0
53,6
Feeling safe with respect to criminality
56,3
Good education
8,9
48,8
Present and future environmental conditions
48,3
Live in a society in which you can trust others
Good governance
8,8
46,6
Services accessible and of good quality
8,7
43,9
Adequate free time and of good quality
8,5
37,4
Be able to influence local and national policies
7,8
30,6
Participation to community life
7,1
18,7

17. Key domains for the Italian BES

18. Results of the online consultation
Level of importance of the 12 domains

19. Health conditions
Mortality
Behaviors

20. Formal education
Competences

21. Quality
Life balance

22. Poverty and consumption
Income and wealth
Poverty and consumption

23. Social economy

24. Trust
Equal opportunity

25. Criminality
Violence
Perception

27. Rural landscape
Urban landscape
Perception

28. Quality
Biodiversity
Global issues

29. Production
Use

30. Social services
Utilities
Mobility

31. BES2015: composite indicators
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014

32. Territorial projects Brescia Verona Parma R.Emilia Forlì Cesena Prato
Livorno
Prato
Perugia
Terni
Pesaro
Potenza
Catanzaro
Catania

33. BES indicators included in the National Reform Program (Stability law)
Current challenges
BES indicators included in the National Reform Program (Stability law)
Adoption of 2030 Agenda

34. Well-being indicators in the Budget law
The new Italian Budget Law (8/2016) establishes that:
public policies are regularly monitored and evaluated also through the effects on well-being indicators
a high level committee is set up to propose a selection of well-being indicators. It includes the Minister of Economy and Finance, the President of Istat, the Governor of the Bank of Italy and 2 recognized experts
the proposal is then approved by the Parliament and becomes effective

35. 130 12 Sensitivity to public policies Parsimony Practicability
Selection criteria
130
Sensitivity to public policies
Parsimony
Practicability
Timeliness, extension and frequency of time series
Transparency and accountability 12
Selected indicators should be sensitive to economic policies, possibly within the three-year period of the economic planning. Obviously, the choice of indicators on the basis of the major, or less, sensitivity to regulatory intervention must be matched with the opportunity to include key variables related to long-term well-being, with slower evolution.
Parsimony. A large number of indicators better capture the complexity of the different domains, but makes the policy evaluation too complex. It is important focus on a limited number of indicators also to facilitates the cultural transition from a public debate centered almost exclusively on GDP and other production-related indicators to a more complex picture of development. And to ensure that the inclusion of welfare indicators in the budget process is not transformed into a mere bureaucratic / formal exercise.
Practicability. This include the possibility to have data timely aligned to the timing of the policy impact assessment, in case through estimiates carried out with robust, high-quality and documented methodologies. The Government should have the modelling tool to include the selected indicators in the evaluation exercise, or to be able to build the appropriate models in the short term.
Timeliness, extension and frequency of time series. Up-to-date, long, and relatively long time series improve the ability to use indicators both to describe context evolution and to evaluate public policies. The selection must therefore take into account the current availability of indicators and the future possibility for the National statistical office to improve timeliness while ensuring a high level of precision.
Transparency and accountability. The chosen indicators have to be interpretable easily and without ambiguity. And it should not be easy to “manipulate” them through ad-hoc policy measures (for example, by changing the threat level of a substance with an administrative decision). Preference should be given to indicators that are more sensitive to policies in the Central Government responsibility rather than to the action of local governments, i.e. more directly linked to the program objectives set by the central government in public finance documents.

36. The final set of indicators
Mean adjusted income (per capita)
Income inequality (quintile ratio)
Incidence of absolute poverty
Life expectancy in good health (at birth)
Overweight and obesity
Early school leavers
Non-participation in employment
Employment rate of women aged with/without preschool children
Victims of predatory crime (robberies, burglaries and mugging)
Mean length of civil justice trials
CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions
Illegal Building
Presented to the Parliament and aproved
In force since august 2017

37. Mean adjusted income (1,000 euros per capita)
Source: Istat ( ); MEF ( )

38. Non-participation in employment
(ratio between unemployed + non-active available to work / labour force + non-active available to work) %
Source: Istat ( ); MEF ( )

39. Income inequality index
(ratio between the equivalent income of the richest 20% and of the poorest 20%)

40. CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions (equivalent tons x inhab.)
Source: Istat ( ); MEF ( )

41. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs
On SDGs
17 Goals
169 Targets
241 Indicators

42. The process towards the SDGs