TY  - JOUR
AU  - Helliwell,John F.
TI  - Life Satisfaction and Quality of Development
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14507
PY  - 2008
Y2  - November 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14507
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14507.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
John F. Helliwell
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
and Department of Economics
University of British Columbia
997-1873 East Mall
Vancouver BC V6T 1Z1
CANADA
Tel: 604/822-4953
Fax: 604/822-5915
E-Mail: john.helliwell@ubc.ca
AB  - This paper argues that measures of life satisfaction, now being collected annually by the Gallup World Poll in more than 130 countries, permit a much broader view of the quality and consequences of development than other common measures. While these data show the importance of conventionally measured economic development, they also show the importance of many other elements of life that are also affected, whether deliberately or not, by community, national, and international institutions and policies. In estimating the importance of these other factors, this paper pays special attention to the social context of well-being: the norms, networks and relationships within which lives are lived.
ER  -