This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. Journal of Economic Literature
  4. December 2009
  5. Beyond GDP: The Quest for a Measure of Social Welfare

Journal of Economic Literature

ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)

Beyond GDP: The Quest for a Measure of Social Welfare

  • Marc Fleurbaey
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 47, no. 4, December 2009
(pp. 1029–75)
Download Full Text PDF

Abstract

This paper critically examines the various approaches to the measurement of individual well-being and social welfare that have been considered for the construction of alternatives to GDP. Special attention is devoted to recent developments in the analysis of sustainability, in the study of happiness, in the theory of social choice and fair allocation, and in the capability approach. It is suggested in the conclusion that, although convergence toward a consensual approach is not impossible, for the moment not one but three alternatives to GDP are worth developing. ( JEL I31, E23, E01)

Citation

Fleurbaey, Marc. 2009. "Beyond GDP: The Quest for a Measure of Social Welfare." Journal of Economic Literature, 47 (4): 1029–75. DOI: 10.1257/jel.47.4.1029

JEL Classification

  • E01 Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth
  • E23 Macroeconomics: Production
  • I31 General Welfare