Measures of Well‐Being and Official Statistics

Recently, the debate on new measures of well-being reached a wide audience, especially thanks to the big media’s “ballyhoo.” That debate, very often accompanied by Robert Kennedy’s words (March 18, 1968, speech at Kansas University), has been urged, also thanks to many prestigious initiatives, such as the commission appointed by French President in 2008 and now known through the chairs’ names (Stiglitz, Sen e Fitoussi). What is never said is that since many years, many researchers all over the world have been continuously working on defining concepts and measures of well-being. In many cases, the debate has been trivialized to the simple concern “what indicator can replace GDP?” In order to measure and monitor a country’s well-being and progress, a systematic approach is needed, leading from concept to measure, to synthesis and then interpretation. The process requires the identification of (in order): (a) The concepts (and their corresponding conceptual dimensions) to measure and monitor and the domains in which the concepts are measured and monitored. (b) The indicators including the techniques aimed at summarizing and summing up the indicators. (c) Interpretative and explanatory models. This process should be an integral part of the mission of official statistics.