Human Well-being: Concept and Measurement
This volume extends WIDER’s outstanding tradition of publishing cutting edge work on the quality of life. Mark McGillivray has done a fine job of bringing together new work by leading figures in the field. Anyone interested in research in this area should consult and learn from this book. —Mozzafer Qizilbash, Professor of Politics, Economics and Philosophy, University of York
'It has become widely acknowledged that the purpose of development is to improve human well being. But how do we define well being? How do we measure it? This volume is a much needed publication that brings together leading research on addressing these questions. This is an important book for all development professionals. —Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Visiting Professor, The New School, New York, and Director and Lead Author, UNDP Human Development Reports 1996-2004
- Publisher:
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Series:
- Studies in Development Economics and Policy
- Title:
- Human Well-being: Concept and Measurement
- Authors:
- Edited by Mark McGillivray
- Publication date:
- December 2006
- ISBN Printed:
- 0230004989
- ISBN 13 Print:
- 9780230004986
- Copyright holder:
- © UNU-WIDER
- Copyright year:
- 2006
- Keywords:
- human well-being, government, international organizations, non-economic dimensions, measure
- JEL:
- A13, I32, D63
- Project:
- Social Development Indicators - Measuring Human Well-being
- Format:
- hardback book
- ‘The UNU-WIDER volumes have emerged at a time when work on well-being is expanding rapidly across the social sciences in response to changes in global conditions, new research priorities, more sophisticated concepts and methods, and improved data resources. The books in question are remarkable not just for tackling difficult conceptual and methodological issues …, but for their content, scope and coverage – which touches upon most, if not all, of the central topics and emerging issues in well-being research. … [They] bring together a diverse collection of papers on poverty, inequality and well-being in developing countries. They tackle a wide range of conceptual, methodological and technical issues that are likely to be of interest to scholars, policy-makers and practitioners alike. More importantly perhaps, they also draw out key policy conclusions and help identify promising directions for future research. Among other things they recognize that poverty and well-being are inherently multidimensional, highlight the need for further conceptual and empirical work to combine quantitative and qualitative indicators of well-being, call for the availability and quality of existing data for measuring well-being to be improved, show that some countries are better at converting income into broader well-being achievements than others, and stress the importance of human security for realizing well-being. While these volumes are skewed towards measurement, they successfully incorporate key chapters on conceptual and foundational issues while cashing in on UNU-WIDER’s comparative advantage in quantitative economics and practical research. As such, these books are highly recommended and likely to become leading works of reference.’ – David A. Clark, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Journal of Human Development vol. 9, no. 1 March 2008