workshop on measuring and comparing the quality of life within europe professor denise lievesley...
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Workshop on Measuring and Comparing the Quality of Life
within EuropeProfessor Denise LievesleyHead of School of Social Science and Public Policy, King’s College London andChair, European Statistical Advisory Committee
The European Statistical Advisory
Committee
European Statistics Code of Practice 2005
PRINCIPLE 11: RELEVANCEEuropean statistics must meet the needs of users.- Processes are in place to consult users, monitor the relevance and practical utility ofexisting statistics in meeting their needs, and advise on their emerging needs andpriorities.– Priority needs are being met and reflected in the work programme.– User satisfaction surveys are undertaken periodically.
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The ESAC – Mandate
Committee shall assist the European Parliament / Council / Commission in ensuring that user requirements and the costs borne by information providers and producers are taken into account in coordinating the strategic objectives and priorities of the Community’s statistical information policy
Inaugural meeting on June 2009
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The ESAC – Tasks
OPINIONon Community statistical programme, in particular on its
relevance to requirements of European integration relevance to Community activities balance as regards priorities and resources and possibility to re-prioritise statistical work
adequacy of resources for its implementation and appropriateness to users’ needs
costs and possibilities of reducing response burdenown-initiative opinions/reports on user requirements and costs borne by data providers
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The ESAC – Tasks (continued)
ADVICE Point out necessary new statistical
activities Advise the Commission how to
improve the relevance of Community statistics to users
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Relations with Community institutions/other bodies
At request of the EP/Council/Commission, ESAC shall deliver an opinion relating to user requirements and costs incurred by data suppliers in
development of the Community’s statistical information policy
priorities of the Community statistical programme evaluation of existing statistics data quality and dissemination policy
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The ESAC – TOOLS
Plenary meetings Establishment of temporary working
parties Commission of studies Organisation of seminars
For more information: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/
portal/page/portal/esac/introduction
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The ESAC – Composition
24 members, appointed for 5 years, renewable once:
12 appointed by Commission
• users• respondents
• other stakeholders
11 directly appointed by
• European Parliament • Council
• Eur. Economic and Social Committee• Committee of the Regions• European Central Bank
• ESSC (2 members)• Businesseurope
• ETUC • UEAPME
• Eur. Data Protection SupervisorDirector-General of ESTAT
Importance of partnership between official statisticians and a broader ‘user’ community
Building trust – a prerequisite for the collection and use of data
Advocating for the resources Sharing data – not all collected by
official agencies Creating expertise, adding value Communicating the data (even if they
are uncomfortable for our governments) Building statistically literate
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Welcome this consultation
What are the needs for data across Europe which focus on the quality of life?
What do we mean by the quality of life? What data already exist which can be utilised? How do we measure quality of life? Who will use the data and for what purposes? How will the data be made available?
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European dimension
Understanding needs for European data
Influencing the decisions concerning European practice
Sharing experiences across countries
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Purposes of cross-national (ie European)data
To aggregate across national boundaries for a regional picture which meets European policy needs and which provides a resource for European research
To learn from one another (contrast and similarity)
To build a greater global understanding through comparison
To accelerate progress through sharing resources
To make research more credible/ defensible To distance the research from the political
process (tension – policy relevance v. autonomy)
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We already have a rich array of data describing the social circumstances of our populations
Over-attention on economic variables to the exclusion of others
Over-attention on nation as unit of analysis
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Evidence that inequalities within our societies are growing, exacerbated by the recessions
Leading to disruption and insecurity Countries with the greatest homogeneity achieve
the most Why should the poor and disadvantaged, whether in
rich or poor countries, not have the opportunities to experience positive emotions and life satisfaction?
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Concern about an unrelenting pursuit of growth
At the expense of the poorest And of the environment(the two are interconnected)
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What you measure matters
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Sridhar Venkatapuram there is now political interest in developing new indicators to
assess how well or poorly the lives of citizens are going that are more informative than macro-economic indicators such as GDP.
there have been advances in measurement techniques to more efficiently capture people’s daily experiences of emotions.
researchers are identifying different dimensions or kinds of subjective wellbeing, and their links to health, mortality, productivity, cost-savings and environmental sustainability.
economists and policy makers see potential for using subjective wellbeing data in policy design, monitoring and evaluation of programs, and to better target scarce resources.
there is excitement about the potential for behavioural economics research--the psychology of decision making under uncertainty--to inform the design of wellbeing public policy.
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Better utilisation of what we have
Fresh data collection takes time and resources
Current financial constraints are impacting upon our ability to collect new data
Secondary data analysis can take place in resource–constrained (including a time-constrained) environment
Compliance costs important especially in small countries and in surveys of elites, businesses, institutions
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Conclusion
So essential to build policies in our countries which address the quality of life of our citizens as well as environmental degradation
Developments must be underpinned by sound statistical methodology
Partnership with user community is vital to build the trust necessary to enhance our understanding of the progress of our societies
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