New Estimates of the Index of Economic Well-being for Selected OECD Countries Lars Osberg McCulloch Professor of Economics, Dalhousie University 6214 University Avenue Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5 CANADA 902-494-6988, fax 902-494-6917,
[email protected] Andrew Sharpe Center for the Study of Living Standards 111 Sparks Street, Suite 500 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5B5 CANADA 613-233-8891,fax 613-233-8250,
[email protected] Paper presented at 10e colloque de comptabilité nationale organisé par l’Association de comptabilité nationale, January 21-23, Paris, France. 2 New Estimates of the Index of Economic Well-being for Selected OECD Countries Abstract This paper presents revised estimates of the Index of Economic Well-being (IEWB) for nine OECD countries (France, Italy, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Norway and Sweden) for the period 1980 to 2001. The IEWB consists of four components: current effective per capita consumption flows, net societal accumulation of stocks of productive resources, income distribution and economic security. The paper argues that the IEWB represents a better measure of “command over resources” than GDP per capita. The major innovation in the paper is the introduction of a scaling methodology. The paper finds that in 2001 Norway had the highest level of economic well-being, followed by Italy, Germany, Sweden, and France. The four Anglo-Saxon countries (UK, Australia, Canada and the United States) followed. Between 1980 and 2001 Norway enjoyed the largest increase in economic well-being, followed by France. 3 New Estimates of the Index of Economic Well-being for Selected OECD Countries 1 Introduction Is it possible to find a better measure of “access to economic resources”? A frequent refrain in the “social indicators” literature is the (true) statement that there is more to “well-being” than economics, but it is also widely recognized that a key component of overall well-being is economic well-being or “access to economic resources”.