Measuring what we value
Outline
The “Measuring What We Value” working group explores the need for more comprehensive and value-aligned performance measures. Current indicators often emphasize economic growth and profitability, neglecting aspects such as social cohesion, inequality, and environmental preservation. This focus contributes to ongoing social and environmental crises by externalizing their negative impacts.
The working group investigates existing academic concepts and broad frameworks, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to better align macroeconomic and macrosocial objectives with social progress. They aim to highlight overlooked domains, propose guiding principles, and disseminate knowledge about alternatives to traditional economic measures. This involves not just developing new indicators, but also reviewing and improving existing ones in various specific domains.
Key Issues
Beyond GDP
The group reviews broader measures of social performance, including non-monetary aspects of quality of life and distributional issues. It addresses philosophical debates about the measurement of individual well-being, discussing whether it should be objective, subjective, or preference-based.
Beyond Shareholder Value
This section emphasizes the need to include societal and environmental impacts in business and finance reporting. It explores whether harmonization among existing initiatives is sufficient or if substantial methodological innovation is needed.
Measuring the Invisible
The contribution of underrecognized groups, such as women, migrants, and modern slaves, is often undervalued. The group aims to make their contributions visible to support social transformation and reduce inequalities.
Quality of Life
Despite existing efforts, much remains to be done in measuring quality of life in non-economic domains, such as social interactions and relationships, which are crucial for human flourishing.
Quality of Governance
The group proposes frameworks for assessing the quality of governance at various levels, from local to global. This includes evaluating effectiveness, inclusiveness, and deliberation.
Life and Planetary Well-being
The social progress agenda extends to planetary well-being, emphasizing the need for better measures of ecosystem health, biodiversity value, and non-human well-being.
Coordinators
Marc Fleurbaey : Senior researcher, CNRS Professor, Paris School of Economics
Margo Thomas : President and CEO, Women’s Economic Imperative
Marta Roig : Chief, Emerging Issues and Trends, UN-DESA