American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Challenges in Constructing a Survey-Based Well-Being Index
American Economic Review
vol. 107,
no. 5, May 2017
(pp. 81–85)
Abstract
How should a survey-based measure of well-being be implemented? How could it be constructed in a systematic and politically neutral way? These questions should be approached by economists with the same level of care that has been taken in the theoretical and practical development of GDP. We focus on two essential requirements for implementation: formulating a list of different aspects of well-being that is theoretically valid and can be measured accurately via surveys, and choosing and interpreting the survey response scales. We discuss progress to date on these issues, remaining challenges, and some possible approaches to overcoming them.Citation
Benjamin, Daniel J., Kristen B. Cooper, Ori Heffetz, and Miles Kimball. 2017. "Challenges in Constructing a Survey-Based Well-Being Index." American Economic Review, 107 (5): 81–85. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171099Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C43 Index Numbers and Aggregation; leading indicators
- C83 Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
- I31 General Welfare; Well-Being