Main description:

In this volume, the authors explain the reasons why subjective indicators of well-being are needed. They describe how these indicators can offer useful input and provide examples of policy uses of well-being measures. They describe the validity of the subjective well-being measures as well as potential problems. The authors then delve into objections to the use of subjective well-being indicators for policy purposes and discuss why these objections are not warranted.
Finally, they describe the measures that are currently in use and the types of measures that are most likely to be valuable in the policy domain. The volume will be of interest to researchers in psychology and economics.

Contents:

Section I: Measuring well-being for public policy ; 1. Introduction ; 2. Defining well-being ; Section II: How well-being adds information ; 3. Limitations of economic and social indicators ; 4. Contributions of well-being measures ; 5. The well-being measures are valid ; 6. Issues regarding using well-being for policy ; 7. The Desirability of well-being as a guide for policy ; Section III: Examples of policy uses of well-being measures ; 8. Health and well-being: Policy examples ; 9. The environment and well-being: Policy examples ; 10. Work, the economy, and well-being: Policy examples ; 11. The social context of well-being: Policy examples ; Section IV: Implementing the measures ; 12. Existing surveys ; 13. Conclusions ; References ; Index