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The Forum > General Discussion > Measuring progress

Measuring progress

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Every government claims to be doing well for its citizens, but how well are they doing?

In the aftermath of Margaret Thatcher's death we had a lot of discussion about the state in which she left the UK, and whether or not she had been beneficial.

I looked at some statistics from the time, and it was a little hard to say. Certainly unemployment was worse after her time, but was it as bad as it might have been if she hadn't become PM?

And do these statistics tell the whole story anyway? What is the link between low unemployment and national well-being, or economic growth and national well-being?

In a recent OLO article John Turner tried to link relgious belief with social justice relying on a piece of German research http://www.sgi-network.org/pdf/SGI11_Social_Justice_OECD.pdf which claimed that Australia, and the USA, do not perform well on the issue of social justice.

Today I came across this new index of Social Progress http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/data/spi which puts Sweden, followed by the UK, at the top, with Australia in 7th place.

So I'm interested in what else is out there, and what others rely on to measure national performance, and what criticisms you have of the various measures available.

With respect to the Social Progress Index, one criticism is that you'd get a similar result just relying on GDP http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2013/04/wealth-and-well-being.html.

Perhaps GDP is the best measure after all.
Posted by GrahamY, Saturday, 13 April 2013 4:10:38 PM
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Hi Graham,

Here's a link that may be of interest:

http://www.theconversation.com/punching-above-our-weight-sizing-up-australias-economy-10153
Posted by Lexi, Saturday, 13 April 2013 5:39:33 PM
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Dear Grahamy,

After Australia being so much on the front foot in so many areas like voting rights for women, the aged pension, the eight hour day etc it is depressing to me that so many other countries are moving forward on gay marriage, including may I say the US, while we seemed mired in the mud. Those nations who have completed or who are going through the necessary legislative steps to bring this reform into law seem to be growing in number every week.

Perhaps it is just our current crop of pollies who are the problem.

The only shining lights are Gillard's disability insurance scheme and Abbott's maternal leave policy.
Posted by csteele, Saturday, 13 April 2013 6:37:59 PM
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Graham, interesting question. We've touched on aspects of it previously.

I consider suicide and murder rates to be relevant (espcially over time within a nation) as an indicator. For global rankings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_death_rate, the downside for purposes of understanding national wellbeing is that both suicide rates and homicide rates are impacted by factors that may not reflect real well being. Strong religious or cultural taboos against suicide may give a lower suicide rate (or reporting of suicide) than would otherwise occur and improved trauma medical treatment may reduce the overall intentional death rates while the social conditions are still a mess. Difficult for governments to redefine death the way they may do with other measures.

Perhaps the measure could look at all deaths in different age brackets, greater proportions of people dying young is generally a clear sign that things are not going well.

R0bert
Posted by R0bert, Saturday, 13 April 2013 6:59:29 PM
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RObert,

"....two to three high school age students die by suicide every week..."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-25/schools-to-get-specialist-suicide-help/4333560
Posted by Poirot, Saturday, 13 April 2013 7:07:02 PM
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Bhutan measure their progress in GNH - Gross National Happiness :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness

Cheers,

Tony
Posted by Tony Lavis, Saturday, 13 April 2013 10:38:18 PM
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