Skip to main content

BBC News - Business:
Move over, GDP: How should you measure a country's value?

3 April 2014

There have been several other attempts at complementing or replacing GDP. Sir Gus O'Donnell explains the impact wellbeing research is having on policy. The UN implemented the human development index, the OECD has a ''better life index'' and even the UK's own Office for National Statistics measures national wellbeing. Recently, Sir Gus O'Donnell, a former senior civil servant in the UK, published a wellbeing and policy report, which investigated the main economic, social and personal drivers of happiness. ... But there are those who resist the idea that GDP cannot map welfare. Nick Oulton, of the London School of Economics, argues that economic growth can be a good measure of a country's wellbeing. ''It won't solve all problems, but a rise in wealth can lead to declines in infant mortality, increased life expectancy, and people getting healthier because they can afford to eat more food,'' he says.

This article was published online by BBC News - Business on April 3, 2014
Link to article here

Also in
 UK Wired News

Related publications
'Wellbeing and Policy', Gus O'Donnell, Angus Deaton, Martine Durand, David Halpern and Richard Layard, Legatum Institute Report, March 2014
Link to report here
Nicholas Oulton's CEP publications

Related links
Richard Layard webpage
Wellbeing Programme webpage
Nicholas Oulton webpage
Productivity and Innovation Programme webpage

Read more... BBC News - Business