Canadian 'Index of Well-being' compared with GDP

Discussion in 'Economics' started by Wallace, Oct 27, 2011.

  1. heard ex PM Paul Martin on BNN talking about a 'well being' index that's related
    to and/or rather than the GDP alone, new one to me
    don't know whose index Martin was referring to but found the following:

    "The Centre for the Study of Living Standards is a non-profit, national, independent
    organization that seeks to contribute to a better understanding of trends in and
    determinants of productivity, living standards and economic and social well-being
    through research." founded in Ottawa in August 1995
    Very comprehensive, covers 1981 thru 2010, a report rather than index per se since
    they've broken down, explained and charted all the components in their index -
    need to download the pdf - 98 pages
    while the provinces are used as the source of data, the Northwest Territories and
    Nunavut do not appear to be included in the data:
    http://www.csls.ca/iwb/prov.asp

    minimal, not current
    http://ciw.ca/en/TheCanadianIndexOfWellbeing.html

    US: a limited well being index sponsored by Healthways - a disease management
    company founded in 1981 - and produced by Gallup:
    http://www.well-beingindex.com/

    UK: again a Gallup.Healthways index
    the UK will be starting a government index in 2012, will it benefit the population or
    provide the means to improve spin doctoring government policies ?:
    http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/well-being-index-measures-happiness

    France, Germany, Japan etc, don't see anything, but Gallup has a 'thriving' index
    of 155 countries:
    http://www.gallup.com/poll/126977/global-wellbeing-surveys-find-nations-worlds-apart.aspx

    see also and etc such as: 'Happiness economics': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_economics