Date: 2024-05-19 Page is: DBtxt003.php bk009121300
ACTION INFORMATION FOR ALL OF SOCIETY
Metrics about the State, Progress and Performance of the Economy and Society
Metrics about Impact on People, Place, Planet and Profit
Chapter 12 - ANALYSIS AND REPORTING - III
(BY THEMATIC ISSUE)
12-13 ANALYSIS OF QUALITY OF LIFE
Quality if life ... the pursuit of happiness ... is enshrined in the US Constitution. While the highest priority of mankind is to survive, after that, happiness is a critical driver of what is done. Money, as a proxy for happiness, has not done very well ... but it is money, more than happiness that is the main metric in modern accountancy and economics. Value accounting has quality of life and happiness as a core part of the framework of performance metrics. For people, quality of life is a big part of what makes life worth living.
Bhutan. It is noteworthy that the small country of Bhutan has chosen to move beyond using GNP as its measure of economic performance to a National Happiness Index. Imagine how things would change if China, India, Brazil and the G8 all were to embrace happiness as the primary goal of national economic policy!It has been said that modern capitalist market economics is simply about more and more and more ... and there is an element of truth in this. If this is applied as the core economics of the planet, it is a formula for disaster. Quality is as important as quantity. Value that produces happiness is more important than mere growth and money profit. Productivity and efficiency ... and an adequate sufficiency for everyone's reasonable needs. None of this is out of reach ... but the metrics must help. Playing the game with the wrong scorekeeping system will not get the job done.
Quality of life is a complicated mix of many things including:
- At a personal level:
- Health
- Family
- Friends
- Money security
- Job security
- Opportunities
- Physical security
- Level of education
- Level of skills
- At a family level:
- the same as at the personal level but applied to other family members