Vol. 15 No. 1 (2024)
Studies

The Concept of Measurability of Well-Being – Dilemmas and Good Practices

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Tibor Tóth
Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem Bölcsészet- és Társadalomtudományi Kar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.61177/HISZ.2024.15.1.7

Published 28-06-2024

Keywords

  • well-being,
  • GDP,
  • subjective indicator,
  • objective indicator,
  • multilevel measurement system

Copyright (c) 2024 Tóth Tibor

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The study seeks to answer the question whether the concept, measurement and methodology of well-being can be a real alternative to GDP as the sole indicator of growth and development. Drawing on historical conceptions of well-being, it examines the dilemmas, methods and critiques of measurement and measurability, and analyses the practical aspects of these by looking at the national measurement framework that has been developed in the UK over the last decade. The study argues that, for the time being, well-being indicators are complementary to GDP trends, but can play an important role in policy design and implementation by developing optimal ways of measuring them.

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