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Social and Political Indicators of Human Well-being

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Human Well-Being

Part of the book series: Studies in Development Economics and Policy ((SDEP))

Abstract

Quality of life bears a complex relationship to a wide range of social and political indicators of development. Over recent years, the availability of data has increased appreciably in both the range and number of countries covered. In this chapter, I ask what contribution these indicators can make towards our understanding of human well-being. In so doing, the conceptualization of ‘well-being’ and development is discussed, and how these concepts may be applied to multidimensional approaches to welfare analysis. The issues surrounding the choice of indicator variables, data quality and availability are reviewed, before the interpretation of social indicators is discussed. I then look at issues surrounding aggregating and disaggregating social indicators, and review the literature on political indicators of well-being.

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Authors
  1. Susan Harkness
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. World Institute for Development Economics Research, United Nations University, Helsinki, Finland

    Mark McGillivray (Senior Research Fellow, Inaugural Fellow of the Human Development and Capabilities Association) (Senior Research Fellow, Inaugural Fellow of the Human Development and Capabilities Association)

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© 2007 United Nations University

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Harkness, S. (2007). Social and Political Indicators of Human Well-being. In: McGillivray, M. (eds) Human Well-Being. Studies in Development Economics and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230625600_4

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