Challenges for creating a transnational index from secondary sources. The world love index in the making

This case focuses on the construction of the World Love Index, a new index built ad hoc on secondary sources with the aim of showing, through transnational comparisons, the different levels of Social Love (SL) present in different countries. The idea is part of the debate “Beyond GDP” which aims to develop indicators of the progress of a society, taking into account the environmental and social aspects of well-being. Within this framework, SL is considered both an important agent of cohesiveness in contemporary society and a key element in the promotion of solidarity and recognition in pluralist societies. The World Love Index can be considered a valid example of how to design a transnational index from secondary sources. This case study describes the procedure, choices, and problems encountered by the research group during the selection of the indicators, the construction of the data matrix, and the harmonization of data from different sources.