well-being measures for public policy
DESCRIPTION
Well-Being Measures for Public Policy. Ed Diener University of Illinois, and Senior Scientist, The Gallup Organization United Nations Development Program October 8, 2008. Subjective Well-Being (SWB). People’s evaluations of their lives – in both thoughts and feelings. For example: - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Well-Being Measures
for Public PolicyEd DienerUniversity of Illinois, andSenior Scientist, The Gallup Organization
United Nations Development ProgramOctober 8, 2008
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Subjective Well-Being (SWB)People’s evaluations of their lives – in both
thoughts and feelings. For example:
Life satisfactionMarital, work, & health satisfactionPleasant emotions, e.g. Joy, affection, & trust Low negative emotions, e.g., anger &
depression
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Overview
Subjective well-being helps reveal the progress of societies – quality of life
It provides useful new information to policy makers-- with some policy examples
Also SWB directly benefits societies – health, longevity, prosperity, and peace
Finally, I will answer objections
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• GallupWorld Poll
0: Worst Possible Life
10: Best Possible Life
9
7
8
6543
2
1
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Culture and Well-Being
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WHY SWB?Why not just measure
income, education, and longevity – the HDI?
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Limitations of Existing Indicators, Including the HDI
1. What they do not measure
e.g., TrustAir pollutionGender equalityJob securityGreen urban spaceCrimeetc.
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Characteristics of Nations Missed by HDI?
UNDP Human Development Index (2003)
1.0.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2
Affe
ct B
alan
ce (P
os. A
ffect
ove
r Neg
.)80
60
40
20
0
-20
Honduras
Armenia
Gaza/W. Bank
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SWB measures more than the HDI:Correlates of National Life Satisfaction
• Income .82• Longevity .73
• Political stability .52• Trust other people .48• Unemployment -.44• Time with family/friends .41
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Example: Crime
• Assault rate adds to the prediction of Life Satisfaction beyond the HDI
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2. HDI Has Low CeilingDifferentiation only for less developed nations
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3. Need ever-expanding lists of measures to capture all elements of quality of life
How to include them all?How to weight them?
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How large a list?• Commuting time• Factory emissions• Greenery • Support for science• Literary achevements• Support for the arts• Litter rates• Quality of roads• Building safety• Rape rates• Parks• Tertiary education• Education gender equality• Income equality• Unemployment rate• Inflation rate• Political corruption• Business corruption• Child abuse• Infant mortality• Longevity• AIDS rates• School dropout rate• Juvenile delinquency• Free time• Youth sports participation• Recycling rates• Exercise rates• Consumption of junk foods• Consumption of animal protein• Locally grown produce• Etc• Etc• Etc• Etc• Etc• Etc• Etc• Etc
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How to Weight?• Health, education, equality, crime,
pollution – all weighted the same?
Example: U.S.A. Cities333 cities – many can be rated first OR last, depending on weighting of indicators!
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4. Whose List to Use?• Amartye Sen; Martha Nussbaum?
U.S. “experts” (elites)
U.S. example: The fine arts versus roller-derby
SWB measures are democratic -- from the people -- what they value and weight
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SWB Weights and Integrates The Things About Which People
Care, the Optimal Weights, and The
Direction of Influence!
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5. Also measurement problems with economic and other
measures
• Subjectivity in contents – GDP • Missed – black & grey markets, &
bartering• Unreliable in poor nations• How to integrate different approaches
to measuring GNP
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6. Other Measures Miss Something Very Important!
HDI Robots – educated, long-living with money
Don’t we want more than orderly worker-bees?
Don’t we also want people leading meaningful and rewarding lives?
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Why SWB ?• It is people’s evaluations of their lives – surely we
want these to be positive! Democratic!
• People rate it as very important, even the most important. They want it!
• Well-being is a core component of mental health, and mental illness likely largest cause of illness-related misery in the 21st century
• Behavioral benefits of well-being
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Importance Ratings (1-9)Happiness Wealth Health
OVERALL (28 nations) 8.0 6.8 7.9
Chile 8.6 6.9 8.1Singapore 8.4 7.1 8.0Egypt 8.1 7.6 8.0USA 8.1 6.7 7.6Japan 7.4 6.6 7.8
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Disease Burden• Misery burden from mental illnesses
likely to be largest by 2020, yet missed by longevity statistics
– Autism, Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder
– This burden reflected by SWB indicators
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BUT
Is happiness good? Is it functional?
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The Error of Flaubert
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
Gustave Flaubert
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Our Research Shows that Happiness is Beneficial
Flaubert 180 degrees off
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Social Benefits of Being Happy
• More friends• Better and longer marriages• Social capital: Trust
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Work Benefits• Higher supervisor ratings at work• Better “organizational citizens”• Higher incomes
• USA• Australia• Russia
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Societal Benefits
• Volunteering
• Pro-peace attitudes
• Cooperative
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Health Benefits of SWB
1. IllnessImmune, cardiovascular, etc.
2. Longevity
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Longevity: The Nun Study Danner, Snowden, & Friesen, U Kentucky
1. Nuns autobiographies at age 22Expression of positive emotions
2. Happy and less happy nuns living in same life circumstances through lifespan
How long do they live?
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Longevity in The Nun Study
Survival Rate at Age: 85 94
Most Cheerful Quartile 90% 54%
Least Cheerful 34% 11%
Longevity boost – about 10 years!
Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen
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Psychologists
Happy live about 6 years longer
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Predicting National Mean Life Expectancy
Corr. Beta r B
GDP/Capita .66 .12Health Expenditures .47 .01Life Satisfaction .76 .65
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Predicting National Life Expectancy
When control GDP and Health Expenditures first:
SWB – Affect and Life Satisfaction – add16% more variance in predicting longevity!
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In sum: National Accounts of Well-Being
• People believe well-being is important
• It leads to several desirable outcomes
• It helps with social capital
• We ought to be measuring it!
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Policy Examples
• Economics– Unemployment
• Environment– Commuting– Air pollution
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Slow & Incomplete Adaptation to Unemployment (Mostly Re-Employed, and Controlling for Income)
5.8
6
6.2
6.4
6.6
6.8
7
7.2
Past Prior Yr. Fired 1 Yr. 3 Yrs.
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The Environment: Commuting
Life Satisfaction is consistently lower for those who have long commutes
Rising commute time resulting in higher incomes does not raise LS
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The Environment: Smokestack Emissions
Life satisfaction
Quasi-experimental study in Germany
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Objections1. Can’t measure “happiness” validly
-- must look at “behavior”2. People adapt to their conditions3. Happy pigs and happy mafia4. Happiness is an individual affair; we
don’t want paternalism
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Measurement – Objectivity?
SWB measures have proven validity
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The: “Would you move?”Diener Measure of Validity
Life Evaluation LadderIdeal to Worst (10 to 0)
Denmark 8.0Finland 7.7Switzerland 7.5 Netherlands 7.5Spain 7.2Ireland 7.1
Togo 3.2Cambodia 3.6
Sierra Leone 3.6Georgia 3.7Zimbabwe 3.8West Bank 4.7
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Measurement Validity:SWB Measures Correlate With:
Suicide (individual and national)Physiological (brain, hormones, immune)Informant reports (family and friends)Interview ratingsReaction-time to stimuli tasks
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Surveys in Economics• Survey measures used in GNP
• Subjective decisions about how to sum those numbers
• Subjective reports do have issues, yes, but no more than counting
• Examples: Education, Unemployment, Eastern bloc
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Objection 2: Adaptation:Life Satisfaction & Disability
• People adapt to bad and good conditions
–The “Happy Poor”–Happy Slaves?
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Adaptation?
5.8
6
6.2
6.4
6.6
6.8
7
7.2
-2 Yrs. -1 Yr. 0 +1 Yr. +3 Yrs. +5 Yrs.
-2 Yrs.-1 Yr.0+1 Yr.+3 Yrs.+5 Yrs.
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3. Happy Mafia & Pigs?• Bad people, dumb people, etc. can be
happy
• Yes, and they can be: Rich Educated Long-lived tooHappiness is NOT the only value; other
things matter too
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Other Values More Important?
For example: capabilities & functionings
Maybe, but so what? This does not mean SWB is
not also very important!
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4. Paternalism
CLAIM• Happiness is an individual
affair, not the business of governments
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Paternalism?94 % of Danes are Above
97 % of Togolese
Ladder of Life Scores
109876543210
Perc
ent o
f Res
pond
ents 50
40
30
20
10
0
DENMARK
TOGO
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Conclusions• SWB can simultaneously reflect many
desirable aspects of life
• In addition, it is valuable for nations; it helps functioning!
• It can be validly measured
• It can add information for policy and individual decisions beyond existing measures
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Using SWB Measures
• OECD• E.U.• Stats Canada• C.D.C. in USA
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The Gallup Organization would give the U.N. data for two (more?) years:
• Ladder for 140+ nations• Positive emotions of nations• Negative emotions (e.g., depression) of nations
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References
Well-being for public policyDiener, Lucas, Schimmack, & Helliwell (2009), Oxford U Press
Beyond money: Toward an economy of well-beingPsychological Science in the Public InterestDiener and Seligman, 2004
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“The most authoritativeand informative bookabout happiness ever ^written”
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Thank You!
•Questions?•Discussion?
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Societal Policies?Pleasant Emotions—Enjoyment etc.
Highest Lowest
New Zealand 88 % Georgia 43 %Ireland 88 % Pakistan 48 %Netherlands 87 % Armenia 49 %Costa Rica 87 % Palestine 50 %UK 86 % Sierra L. 51 %
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OECD Nations Affect Balance (PA –NA)Women Men
Ireland .69 .66New Zealand .65 .66Sweden .65 .61Netherlands .62 .63Canada .62 .61Denmark .61 .61Australia .61 .61Austria .61 .60Mexico .60 .62Norway .60 .58Switzerland .58 .57U.S.A. .56 .61U.K. .56 .54Finland .53 .52
Women Men
Japan .53 .43Germany .52 .56Belgium .51 .57France .50 .51Poland .50 .50Spain .48 .58Czech Rep. .48 .50S. Korea .44 .35Italy .42 .42Hungary .41 .48Slovak Rep. .41 .39Greece .31 .42Portugal .30 .44Turkey .17 .20
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More on Diminishing Returns:
US probability sample .12
Calcutta slum dwellers .45
Calcutta sex workers .67
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15 Highest on Ladder• Denmark 8.0 • Finland 7.7• Switzerland 7.5 • Netherlands 7.5 • Canada 7.4 • Norway 7.4 • Sweden 7.4• Australia 7.4• New Zealand 7.3• Belgium 7.3 • United States 7.2 • Israel 7.2• Venezuela 7.2• Spain 7.2• Ireland 7.1
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Lowest Life Ladder
• Benin 3.3• Cambodia 3.6• Sierra Leone 3.6• Tanzania 3.7• Georgia 3.7• Uganda 3.7• Niger 3.7• Ethiopia 3.8• Burkina Faso 3.8• Zimbabwe 3.8• Cameroon 3.9• Madagascar 4.0• Kenya 4.0• Mali 4.0
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UNDP Human Development Index (2003)
1.0.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2
Glo
bal J
udgm
ent o
f Life
(Lad
der)
9
8
7
6
5
4
3Benin
Cambodia Georgia
Armenia
Latvia
Sri Lanka
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Proposal for National Indicators of Well-Being – and International Indicators
• Long overdue• Resistance – based on outmoded
philosophy & data• Ignorance of newest findings
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Health Research FundingDisease burden computations:
• Life Years and
• Misery– Use SWB instead of Willingness-to-pay
Paul Dolan, UK health economist
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4. Optimal Amount?Can there be too much
or too little?
Examples:• Divorce rate• Percent in science & engineering• Tertiary education for all
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Example: Divorce Rate• Is 0 percent good?
– No freedom
• Is 55 percent better?– Unstable relationships & childrearing
• Optimum level– Reflected in well-being