From the “stiglitz' report” to a proposal how to measure subjective well-being and calculate gross national happiness

From the “Stiglitz’ Report” to a proposal how to measure subjective well-being and calculate Gross National Happiness

Rui Brites (CIES/ISCTE, rui.brites@iscte.pt)

João Ferreira de Almeida (CIES/ISCTE, ferreira.almeida@iscte.pt)

The Gross National Happiness (GNH), by analogy with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has occupied large space in the media, especially after the creation of a committee in 2008 to study the concept. This committee, which included two prestigious Nobel prizes: Joseph Stiglitz from Columbia University and former Director of the World Bank, Amartya Sen from Harvard University and Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Director for Research of OFCE and professor emeritus of IEP in Paris, made in their report twelve recommendations for the measurement of the subjective well-being. The authors emphasize that knowledge of GDP is not enough, making it necessary to collect additional information focused on the people welfare sustainability. Moreover the authors claim that happiness, as an expression of subjective well-being is a multidimensional concept based on eight key dimensions that must be considered simultaneously (Stiglitz, Sen & Fitoussi).

The purpose of this presentation is the operationalization of the synthetic index of subjective well-being proposed in the Report, based on information provided by the European Social Survey, round 5 (2010) and hence calculate the Gross National Happiness in the participating European countries.