e. giovannini, measuring and achieving societal progress: a paradigm shift, 2009

Enrico Giovannini President of the Italian Statistical Institute

Measuring and Achieving Societal Progress: A Paradigm Shift

London, 19 November 2009

Roma, 17 novembre 2009

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Beyond GDP (1)

“We have used GDP to determine wrongfully what is in fact the state of well-being of a country … GDP is necessary but inadequate, and we need to develop additional indices that would tell a more comprehensive, a more holistic story about how human society is progressing … The human being has two needs, the needs of the body and the needs of the mind, and what we have focused on so far is mostly the body, perhaps only the body … So, it’s a paradigm shift that we need to make”.

Lyonpyo Jigmi y Thinley, PM of Bhutan


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Beyond GDP (2)

“We have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country. We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma … not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job an economy that honours the dignity of work”.

Barak Obama, President of the USA


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The Istanbul Declaration (1) Ø  A culture of evidence-based decision making

has to be promoted at all levels of government, to increase the welfare of societies.

Ø  We affirm our commitment to measuring and fostering the progress of societies in all their dimensions and to supporting initiatives at the country level.

Ø  We urge statistical offices, public and private organisations, and academic experts to work alongside representatives of their communities to produce high-quality, facts-based information that can be used by all of society to form a shared view of societal well-being and its evolution over time.


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The Istanbul Declaration (2) Ø  To take this work forward we need to:

o  encourage communities to consider for themselves what “progress” means;

o  share best practices and increase the awareness of the need to do so using sound and reliable methodologies;

o  stimulate international debate, based on solid statistical data and indicators, on both global issues of societal progress and comparisons of such progress;

o  produce a broader, shared, public understanding of changing conditions, while highlighting areas of significant change or inadequate knowledge;

o  advocate appropriate investment in building statistical capacity, especially in developing countries, to improve the availability of data and indicators needed to guide development programs and report on progress toward international goals, such as the MDGs.


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The Global Project on “Measuring the Progress of Societies”

Ø  Three main streams of work: o  What to measure? o  How to measure? o  Ensure that measures are used

Ø  Build a partnership with international national and local organisations, foundations, etc.

Ø  Partners: WB, UNDP, UNICEF, IADB, AfDB, EC, INTOSAI, ESCWA, ESCAP

Ø  Associates: national and international organisations, NGOs, universities, etc.


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WEF Global Council “Benchmarking the progress in societies”

Ø Main dimensions:

o  Identify the metrics and indicators most widely used o  Identify variables that could complement measures of

income to build a more accurate understanding of progress and well-being,

o  Improve statistical capability, comparability and reliability of data across countries

o  Make data available to the general public to promote openness and government accountability

o  Engage foundations and other organisations to promote statistics literacy and dissemination to the civil society


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Ø European Commission’s Communication on “GDP and Beyond: Measuring Progress in a Changing World

Ø OECD Framework to measure progress

Ø CMESP’s Report

Ø G20 Communique

Ø III OECD World Forum

Ø OECD Roadmap

2009: A good year for measuring progress


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Ø The overall aim is to develop more inclusive indicators that provide a more reliable knowledge base for better public debate and policy-making.

Ø The Commission intends to cooperate with stakeholders and partners to develop indicators that are internationally recognised and implemented

European Commission’s Communication


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FIVE ACTIONS TO BETTER MEASURE PROGRESS IN A CHANGING WORLD

Ø Complementing GDP with environmental and social indicators

Ø Near real-time information for decision-making

Ø More accurate reporting on distribution and inequalities

Ø Developing a European Sustainable Development Scoreboard

Ø Extending National Accounts to environmental and social issues



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Ø The Commission intends to step up its efforts and communication in this field to provide indicators that do what people really want them to do, namely measure progress

Ø Ultimately, national and EU policies will be judged on whether they are successful in improving the well-being of Europeans

Ø For this reason, future policies should be based on data that is rigorous, timely, publicly accepted and covers all the essential issues

Ø The Commission intends to report on the implementation and outcomes of the actions put forward by this Communication by 2012 at the latest



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OECD Framework to measure progress


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Ø  Ecosystem Condition: outcomes for the environment

o  land (geosphere) o  freshwater, oceans and seas (hydrosphere) o  biodiversity (biosphere) o  air (atmosphere)

Ø  Human well-being: outcomes for people o  physical and mental health o  knowledge and understanding o  work and leisure o  material well-being o  freedom and self-determination o  interpersonal relationships

Ø  Human well-being: cross-cutting goals o  intra-generational aspects: equity/inequality o  inter-generational aspects: sustainability/vulnerability/

resilience



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INTERMEDIATE GOALS Economy

-  national income -  national wealth

Governance -  human rights -  civic and political engagement -  security -  trust -  access to services

Culture -  cultural heritage -  arts and leisure

Resource management, use, development and protection

-  resource extraction and consumption -  pollution -  protection and conservation of economic and environmental

assets



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J. Stiglitz K. Dervis C. Henry A. Sen H. Flassbeck D. Kahnemann JP Fitoussi M. Fleurbay A. Krueger B. Agarwal N. Folbre J. Lin A. Atkinson J. Gadrey R. Putnam JP Cotis E. Giovannini N. Stern A. Deaton R. Guesnerie C. Sunstein K. Arrow G. Heal J. Heckman P. Weil 3 working groups Report available at www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr

Çommission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress


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Key messages -  From production to well-being -  Focus on people (households) -  No single metric, no composite indicator -  Taxonomy of dimensions -  Objective and subjective measures (happiness) -  Measure difficult things -  Round-table

Çommission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress


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_________________________________________ MDG GP CMEPSP ________________________________________ Income/Poverty Material well-being Economic well-being Employment and work Work Personal activities Health Health Health Education Knowl. and underst. Education

Freedom /self-deter. Pol. voice and govern. Interp. relationships Social connections

Environm. Sust. Ecosystem condition Environment Partnership for dev. --- Cross cutting

Vulnerability Insecurity Inequality/poverty Inequality/poverty

Gender equality Special populations



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Ø  Today we are launching a Framework for Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth

Ø  To put in place this framework, we commit to develop a process whereby we set out our objectives, put forward policies to achieve these objectives, and together assess our progress

Ø As we commit to implement a new, sustainable growth model, we should encourage work on measurement methods so as to better take into account the social and environmental dimensions of economic development

G20 Communique


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Ø  1924participants Ø  201 speakers from 50+ countries Ø  57 exhibitors Ø  9 plenary sessions and 37 parallel sessions

Ø  Media attention and growing political awareness

Ø  Strong network of committed people Ø  Launch of Wikiprogress

The III OECD World Forum


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Ø  Mainstreaming: o  OECD roadmap o  EC follow up o  Revision of HDI o  G20 “progress framework”

•  Well-being frameworks for Treasuries •  Statistical developments

Ø  Strengthening: o  Research network o  Capacity building (advise and training) o  Connection with opinion leaders (Club of Rome,

etc.) o  Community of practitioners

The III OECD World Forum


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Ø  The OECD will put in place a process to prioritise the recommendations of CMEPSP: o  OECD Committees will be asked to consider how they

can contribute to implementing the recommendations

Ø Developing measures, methods and tools o  to advance methodologies to produce new indicators

of well-being and to present existing measures under a well-being perspective (statistical compendiums, working papers, etc.)

Ø  Improving and enhancing policy making o  use measures of well-being to enhance policy-making,

creating a series of monographs to discuss the outcomes and the various policies that bear on these drivers and outcomes

OECD Roadmap


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Beyond GDP (1)

“We have used GDP to determine wrongfully what is in fact the state of well-being of a country … GDP is necessary but inadequate, and we need to develop additional indices that would tell a more comprehensive, a more holistic story about how human society is progressing … The human being has two needs, the needs of the body and the needs of the mind, and what we have focused on so far is mostly the body, perhaps only the body … So, it’s a paradigm shift that we need to make”.

Lyonpyo Jigmi y Thinley, PM of Bhutan


23

Beyond GDP (2)

“We have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country. We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma … not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job an economy that honours the dignity of work”.

Barak Obama, President of the USA


24

The Istanbul Declaration (1) Ø  A culture of evidence-based decision making

has to be promoted at all levels of government, to increase the welfare of societies.

Ø  We affirm our commitment to measuring and fostering the progress of societies in all their dimensions and to supporting initiatives at the country level.

Ø  We urge statistical offices, public and private organisations, and academic experts to work alongside representatives of their communities to produce high-quality, facts-based information that can be used by all of society to form a shared view of societal well-being and its evolution over time.


25

The Istanbul Declaration (2) Ø  To take this work forward we need to:

o  encourage communities to consider for themselves what “progress” means;

o  share best practices and increase the awareness of the need to do so using sound and reliable methodologies;

o  stimulate international debate, based on solid statistical data and indicators, on both global issues of societal progress and comparisons of such progress;

o  produce a broader, shared, public understanding of changing conditions, while highlighting areas of significant change or inadequate knowledge;

o  advocate appropriate investment in building statistical capacity, especially in developing countries, to improve the availability of data and indicators needed to guide development programs and report on progress toward international goals, such as the MDGs.


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And what about the crisis? … Happiness lies not in the mere possession of

money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits …

… Without regard to party, the overwhelming majority of our people seek a greater opportunity for humanity to prosper and find happiness. They recognize that human welfare has not increased and does not increase through mere materialism and luxury, but that it does progress through integrity, unselfishness, responsibility and justice …

F.D. Roosevelt, President of the USA, 1933

e. giovannini, measuring and achieving societal progress: a paradigm shift, 2009

Education

progress of societies

better measure progress

countries o

reliable methodologies

government accountability

social indicators

country gdp

international organisations