Can We—and Should We—Measure Well-Being?

In this article, I argue that recent criticisms of happiness research in economics can be extended to any conception of well-being used for scientific or policymaking purposes. These criticisms are both practical and ethical: well-being is not only impossible to define, measure, or implement, but its use also offends human dignity through unjust distribution of harm and value substitution. On this basis, I recommend the abandonment of welfare economics and urge social economists to propose new approaches to addressing social problems that are more focused and respect the dignity of persons.     

The design of an environmental index of sustainable food consumption: A pilot study using supermarket data

Monitoring of the environmental impacts of consumption is necessary for the evaluation of current performance and to support the understanding of how initiatives for change can be implemented. We discuss design issues and methodology for an Environmentally Sensitive Shopper (ESS) index to measure the environmental sustainability of food consumption at the household level. The ESS index is based on revealed consumer preferences and uses scanner data provided by the largest UK food retailer. As a pilot illustration of the methodology, we use the index to identify environmentally critical periods during the calendar year.     

Economic reforms and human development: evidence from transition economies

Do market-oriented economic reforms result in higher levels of human well-being? This article studies the impact of macro-level institutional and infrastructure reforms on the economic, educational and health dimensions of human well-being among 25 transition economies. We use panel data econometrics based on the LSDVC technique to analyse the effects of market-oriented reforms on the human development index (HDI), as a measure of human well-being, from 1992 to 2007. The results show the complexity of reform impacts in transition countries. They show that institutional and economic reforms led to positive economic effect and significant impacts on other dimensions of human development. We find some positive economic impacts from infrastructure sectors reforms. However, not every reform measure appears to generate positive impacts. Large-scale privatizations show negative effects in health and economic outcomes. The overall results show the importance of the interaction among different reform measures and the combined effect of these on human development.     

Corporate Governance and Economic Value Alignment

As a result of recent problems with corporate reporting and management, renewed interest in Corporate Governance has arisen. We analyze economic value alignment as a form of Corporate Governance, a concept similar to but more encompassing than economic value added and value-based management. We look at some specific ways that various companies and industries have applied economic value added analysis. The results show that the companies that use economic value alignment increase their value significantly over those that do not. The results show that discriminating investors and management should demand that their associated companies use EVA to improve overall financial reporting and to better manage assets. In turn, the SEC and Accounting Standard Setting Bodies should consider the long-term benefits of requiring certain sized companies to report relevant EVA data to key stakeholders.     

大地的脉搏——对大地伦理学的哲学思考

大地伦理学是奥尔多·利奥波德创立的一种以整体主义为价值核心的环境伦理思想。该思想为人类拯救生态危机提供了一种具有实践意义的伦理价值导向。其核心概念“土地共同体”改变了人在共同体中的地位，确立了伦理整体主义的最高原则，与人类中心主义、动物解放主义形成三级对立模式。考察大地伦理自身，亦存在自然主义的谬误、“环境法西斯主义”、反文明倾向等诸多问题。     

The case for ethical technology assessment (eTA)

New technologies often give rise to previously unknown ethical problems, and it often takes many years to fully integrate them in society. We propose a new form of technology assessment that will focus on the ethical implications of new technologies; ethical technology assessment (eTA). Ethical technology assessment will serve as a tool for identifying adverse effects of new technologies at an early stage. It should be undertaken in dialogue with technology developers and have the form of a continuous dialogue rather than a single evaluation at a specific point in time. eTA can be conducted on the basis of a check-list that refers to nine crucial ethical aspects of technology; (1) Dissemination and use of information, (2) Control, influence and power, (3) Impact on social contact patterns, (4) Privacy, (5) Sustainability, (6) Human reproduction, (7) Gender, minorities and justice, (8) International relations, and (9) Impact on human values. Ethical technology assessments should not be committed to any particular moral theory. Instead they should be open to different perspectives and solutions.     

Territorial Rooting as an Element of Well-Being

The paper discusses the relevance of the idea of rooting as proposed by Simone Weil and builds a social economic framework to study its role in our life. Rooting is connected to the need of belonging and to have an identity. These elements are identified in some different areas of research—social psychology and social economy—to analyze how this need of the person is taken into account. Then, a theoretical framework to study rooting is presented developing the concept of plural utility and capabilities. The end is to discuss one of the neglected dimensions of human needs in the context of modern society. Finally, some conclusion concerning both individual choices related to rooting and well-being will be proposed.     

Stability and trembles in extensive-form games

A leading solution concept in the evolutionary study of extensive-form games is Selten (1983) notion of limit ESS. This note demonstrates that a limit ESS does not imply neutral stability, and that it may be dynamically unstable (almost any small perturbation takes the population away). These problems arise due to an implicit assumption that “mutants” are arbitrarily rare relative to “trembling” incumbents. Finally, I present a novel definition that solves this issue and has appealing properties.     

从价值到价格的“关系”维度展现——探求马克思未阐明的劳动价值内涵

马克思的劳动价值概念以及价值量由社会必要劳动时间决定,遇到诸多解释力问题,并非是考虑不够周全,而只是一些更为基础的东西没有出现在他的文献中。将劳动价值视为一种关系而不是实体,根据价值在相关维度里的表现形式及其角色变换,可以看出:一切创造人类生命价值的劳动都创造价值;价值的根本维度是人化价值;体现生命依赖性的生命耗费与人化价值是价值的基本关系维度。价值在运动过程中,表现为物化价值、沉没价值、交换价值等不同形式;而价格只不过是由权力关系形成的物的交换形式中的表征价值。在价值的基本关系维度上,由劳动价值关系的质与量的规定性揭示出价值量的决定是作为对个体的异质性简化处理的结果,由此得出价值内涵的一般性基础。     

Is novelty always a good thing? Towards an evolutionary welfare economics

Evolutionary economists are increasingly interested in developing policy implications. As a rule, contributions in this field implicitly assume that policy should focus on the encouragement of learning and innovation. We argue that, from an individualistic perspective, this position is not easy to justify. Novelty and evolutionary change have in fact a rather complex normative dimension. In order to cope with this, the evolutionary approach to policy-making needs to be complemented with an account of welfare the background assumptions of which are compatible with an evolutionary world-view. Standard welfare economics is unsuited to the job, since the orthodox way to conceptualize welfare as the satisfaction of given and rational preferences cannot be applied in a world in which preferences tend to be variable and incoherent. We argue that, in order to deal with the specific normative issues brought up in an evolving economy, welfare should be conceptualized in a procedural way: At the individual level, it should be understood as the capacity and motivation to engage in the ongoing learning of instrumentally effective preferences. Evolutionary-naturalistic insights into the way human agents bring about, value, and respond to novelty-induced change turn out to be a valuable input into this extended concept of welfare. Finally, some implications of this concept are explored.     

On the Use of Subjective Well-Being Data for Environmental Valuation

This paper explores the potential of using subjective well-being (SWB) data to value environmental attributes. A theoretical framework compares this method, also known as the life-satisfaction approach, with the standard hedonic pricing approach, identifying their similarities and differences. As a corollary, we show how SWB data can be used to test for the equilibrium condition implicit in the hedonic approach (i.e., equality of utility across locations). Results for Ireland show that the equilibrium condition required by the hedonic pricing approach in Irish markets does not hold. They also show that air quality, in the baseline specification, and warmer climate, across all the specifications, have a significant positive impact on SWB. Their associated monetary estimates, however, seem too large.     

Well-being and/or quality of life in EU countries through a multidimensional index of sustainability

The aim of my paper is to demonstrate that Sen's theory of well-being can be applied to make the concept of sustainable human development operational through the building of a multidimensional index of sustainability which takes into account, at the same time, economic, social and environmental variables. This index may be considered an alternative to the current measures of welfare/sustainability since not only conventional measures such as GDP, but also multi-attribute indices, such as Human Development Index (HDI), Genuine Savings, Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) etc., are found to be inadequate to make the concept of sustainable development operational. Therefore, the limitations of these measures of welfare/sustainability justify the search for a new index of sustainability. This index will show, at the operational level, how Sen's theory of well-being can be useful to sustainable development. It was applied to EU countries using the standardised deviation methodology being the closest and most suitable methodology to be adopted for building multidimensional indices. The factor analysis methodology will also be used in my paper. Lastly, the comparison between Sen's trend of sustainability and GDP trend index number-which are both of them applied to Italy-will show how much the criticisms and the limitations directed towards the indicator of GDP are founded.     

Ethics and Banking

Usually moral conscience has been forgotten after the individualist and utilitarian analysis. However, many people guide their behavior by a value system that is sensitive to social problems, such as equilibrium with nature, respect of human rights, and the equality of opportunities. People have the power to change the society: As consumers and as savers. As savers, people have the opportunity to choose, in financial markets, between institutions and products. In this paper, we will summarize the economic trends that observe a moral conscience in humans. Then, we will analyze if this moral conscience can have a translation in the financial sector. Can ethical banks and investment funds survive in the competitive financial sector? Can moral conscience be incorporated into financial business?     

GDP as a Measure of Progress and Human Development: A Process of Conceptual Evolution

The GDP concept has historically been used to measure human wellbeing and progress. This analytical purview is now coming into question. The GDP concept limits analysis to the economic factor and ignores the social and cultural. Analysis should focus on how well the people are doing. An avalanche of studies is now being directed toward dethroning the GDP as the sole indicator of human well-being and progress. This has been manifest in the derivation of many social indexes which indicate that while the global economy as well as the American economy are experiencing GDP growth, basic needs are not being fulfilled.     

Mind the gap? Business cycles and subjective well-being

We examine the relationship between output fluctuations and within-country variation in subjective well-being using country panels. We show that the deviation of output from trend, unlike trend growth, is positively associated with well-being. The explanatory power of the business cycle is found to be better than that of the level of output.     

The shading and distancing of commerce: When internalization is not enough

A political economy of degradation and of sustainability should account not only for the full range of production costs but the sources of those costs. It should consider how the pursuit of wealth can, deliberately or not, lead to uncounted costs and unaccountable actors. This article explores the conditions of cost generation and externalization, especially those that are largely unintended and inadvertent. It shows how the pursuit of wealth, the expansion of markets, the mobility of capital, and the entanglements of production processes can lead to the unwitting generation and displacement of costs. It analyzes competitive business strategy and patterns of production and consumption for their contribution to such costs. Business strategy and state policy tend to create a never-ending search for frontiers, however simulated and however unecological they may be. The costs generated in those frontiers are a function of shading, that is, obscuring of costs, and distancing, the separation of production and consumption decisions, both of which impede ecological and social feedback and create cognitive, institutional, and ethical lags between initial benefits and eventual full costs. As distance increases along dimensions of geography, culture, bargaining power, or agency, negative feedback loops are severed, stakeholders expand while decision making contracts, environmental problems are displaced, and shading and cost externalization increase. The likelihood of sustainable resource use increases as distance is lowered, as institutions locate decision authority in those who receive negative ecological feedback and who have the capacity and incentives to act on that feedback, and as the burden of proof for economic interventions shifts to the interveners.     

Eudaimonic well-being,inequality, and health: Recent findings and future directions

The theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of a eudaimonic model of well-being are examined, and its empirical translation into distinct dimensions of well-being is described. Empirical findings have documented aging declines in eudaimonic well-being, but there is considerable variability within age groups. Among older adults who remain purposefully engaged, health benefits (reduced morbidity, extended longevity) have been documented. Eudaimonic well-being also appears to offer a protective buffer against increased health risks among the educationally disadvantaged. Neural and genetic mechanisms that may underlie eudaimonic influences on health are briefly noted, and interventions designed to promote eudaimonic well-being are sketched. Needed future research directions include addressing problems of unjust societies wherein greed among privileged elites may be a force compromising the eudaimonic well-being of those less privileged. Alternatively, and more positive in focus, is the need to better understand the role of the arts, broadly defined, in promoting eudaimonic well-being across all segments of society.     

DOES CONTRACEPTION BENEFIT WOMEN? STRUCTURE,AGENCY, AND WELL-BEING IN RURAL MEXICO

The authors of this paper examine Amartya Sen's contributions to the concept of human well-being from a gender perspective and argue that this concept is particularly useful for explaining women's decisions on contraceptive use. The study draws on data collected in six rural communities of Chiapas, Mexico. It emphasizes the ways in which public discourse articulates the apparent benefits of having small families; the context of the household and community in which rural women make reproductive decisions; and the impact of family planning programs on women's sense of subjective well-being. In particular, it questions the assumption that reduced fertility through contraception necessarily enhances women's well-being and points to the importance that women attach to being a party to reproductive decisions. The authors also explore the links between women's assessment of these decisions and of paid work, and their actual education levels and real possibilities of employment.     

"道义论"抑或"功利论":生态伦理学的根据

道义论和功利论是西方近代以来伦理学思想的两条主线,它们有着不同的道德理念、道德标准、道德追求和伦理精神。在生态伦理学理论的诠释中,仍可看到道义论和功利论的思想痕迹以及它们之间的理论冲突与融合在当代的延续。如何超越道义论与功利论的对立是当代生态伦理学的重要课题。