World Wellbeing Panel Survey | December 2021
by Tony Beatton (Queensland University of Technology), Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell (IAE-CSIC and BSE), Paul Frijters (LSE), and Arthur Grimes (Victoria University of Wellington)
In December 2021, members of the World Wellbeing Panel were asked for their views on two statements relating to the recently formulated concept of WELLBYs. As defined by the UK Treasury: “A WELLBY equates to a one-point change in life satisfaction on a 0-10 scale, per person per year.”1 It is related to the concept of Happiness Adjusted Life Years (HALYs)2, also called Happy Life Years, or Happy life-expectancy, for which time series exist.3
The two statements were as follows:
(i) "The WELLBY cost-benefit methodology will soon become a standard tool for policy development and evaluations in the state bureaucracy of most OECD countries"; and
(ii) "The WELLBY cost-benefit methodology as it is now adopted by the UK and New Zealand bureaucracy will give a greater weight to mental health, social relations, and the environment in cost-benefit calculations than the classic economic methods it replaces."
16 of the World Wellbeing Panelists responded. Their answers and comments appear below:
1 See: HM Treasury. 2021. Wellbeing Guidance for Appraisal: Supplementary Green Book Guidance. Also see: De Neve J-E, Clark A, Krekel C, Layard R, O’Donnell G. 2020. "Taking a wellbeing years approach to policy choice." BMJ 2020; 371:m3853.
2 See: Veenhoven R. 1996. "Happy life-expectancy. A comprehensive measure of quality-of-life in nations." Social Indicators Research, 39, 1-58.
3 See: Data Trend Happy Life-Years in Nations
Join the discussion on Twitter using hashtag #WorldWellbeingPanel
© Barcelona Graduate School of Economics. All rights reserved.
