The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a detailed dashboard of goals, targets and indicators. In this paper we investigate alternative methods to relate the SDGs to overall measures of ...sustainable wellbeing that can motivate and guide the process of global societal change. We describe what a Sustainable Wellbeing Index (SWI) that connects with and complements the SDG dashboard might look like. We first investigate several options for how to construct such an index and then discuss what is needed to build consensus around it. Finally, we propose linking the SDGs and our SWI with a comprehensive systems dynamics model that can track stocks and flows and make projections into the future under different policy scenarios.
Fabrizio Barca, statistico ed economista, ha insegnato in Università italiane e francesi ed è autore di saggi e volumi; oggi è coordinatore del Forum disuguaglianze e diversità; è stato dirigente di ...ricerca in banca d’italia (responsabile delle previsioni macroeconomiche, di indagini sulle imprese e di progetti di studio sugli assetti proprietari delle imprese) e capo dipartimento della politica pubblica per lo sviluppo nel Ministero dell’economia e delle Finanze.
During the last decade a multidimensional vision of progress of societies has been gathering increasing attention in developed and developing countries. A worldwide effort about the need to go ...‘beyond GDP’ as a measure of societal progress has been organised around the OECD World Forums using the concept of ‘equitable and sustainable wellbeing’, which defines the ‘wellbeing of a society’ (or societal wellbeing) as the sum of the human wellbeing and the ecosystem condition and ‘progress of a society’ (or societal progress) as the improvement in human wellbeing and the ecosystem condition. In the context of the future model of development, which has to emerge from the post‐2015 discussion, the concept of societal progress may represent a common framework for all countries of the world regardless of their level of income, model of consumption, social or political structure or environmental challenges.
The path towards the adoption in 2015 of the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) presented a historic and unprecedented opportunity to bring the countries and citizens of the ...world together to decide and embark on new paths to improve the lives of people everywhere. These decisions will shape the global course of action to end poverty, promote prosperity and well-being for all, whilst observing environmental and resources limits and addressing climate change.
The importance of information in economic and political processes is widely recognised by modern theories. This information, coupled with the advancements in Information and Communication ...Technologies (ICT) has changed the way in which markets and societies work. The availability of the Internet and other advanced forms of media have made information more accessible to citizens than ever before. Therefore, the ideal of the "fully informed decision maker" should be a reality. Unfortunately, this is far from the case. As Einstein put it, "information is not knowledge" and although citizens are bombarded by information on a constant basis, this bombardment does not necessarily bring about knowledge. Several studies have analysed the characteristics of the knowledge society, as well as its impact on the production of "official" statistics. In this paper we do not enter into this debate, but we analyse the role of statistics in building a knowledge society and improving the democratic control of policy makers. The paper analyses the relationships between information, expectations and economic theory, as well as the nexus between information and political sciences. Various approaches to the measurement of societal progress and the role of "key indicators" in this respect are also discussed. Finally, both theoretical models and empirical evidence about what citizens know on societal progress are discussed and the OECD project on the measurement of societal progress is presented.
Over the last ten years, the '' Beyond GDP" agenda made a lot of progress, especially from a statistical point of view. The expected adoption, in September 2015, of the universal agenda on the ..."Sustainable Development Goals" will further foster the development of statistics on economic, social and environmental dimensions of well-being, as well as its distribution among different population groups and its sustainability over time. This paper describes the key processes that led to this progress and highlights some of the remaining challenges of the measurement agenda. It also discusses the opportunities to significantly change the way in which the European Union design its policies in order to better meet the expectations of the European citizens.
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