Beyond GDP

Using healthy lifetime income to trace well-being over time with estimates for 193 countries

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4602020
AutoresJunlai Zhang (0000-0001-6151-6148, Vienna University of Economics and Business), Klaus Prettner (0000-0002-8971-8750, Vienna University of Economics and Business, autor correspondente), Simiao Chen (0000-0003-0555-2157, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College), David E Bloom (0000-0003-3731-3345, Harvard Global Health Institute)
Ano2023
Volume320
Páginas115674
Data de publicação2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
EditoraElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115674
PMID36681057
OpenAlexW4315853305
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas32

We measure well-being across 193 countries from 1990 to 2019 using a new indicator: healthy lifetime income (HLI). Apart from the income component as captured by standard per capita gross domestic product, HLI incorporates health as a second important component. Overall, HLI can be interpreted as the income of the average person in an economy during the years in which the person is in good health. We show that HLI has particular strengths as compared with other measures such as the Human Development Index. These include requiring only easily accessible data for its construction, having an immediate economic interpretation and unit of measurement, not needing the application of arbitrary weights of subcomponents, and not being bounded from above. As compared with using per capita gross domestic product as a metric for well-being, we find that countries with better population health tend to fare better in the rankings. This provides a rationale for investments in health and helps shift the focus from material well-being (as an instrumental indicator of well-being) toward health (as an intrinsic goal

Demographic economics · Econometrics · Economic growth · Economics · Gross domestic product · Index (typography · Metric (unit · Per capita · Per capita income · Population · Real gross domestic product · Sociology · Computer Science · Demography · Global Health Care Issues · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction