Abstract
In this paper an attempt is made to illustrate some ways in which social, economic and environmental indicators can be combined to tell a coherent story about the sustainability of human well-being. Using examples from the fields of health, the fishing industry and energy, it is argued that one’s success at constructing a single comprehensive system of indicators of human well-being will always be limited by one’s particular point of departure from social, economic or environmental indicators. If that is indeed the case, then it would be helpful for researchers to abandon attempts to construct single comprehensive Utopian systems in favour of agreed upon lists of important goals, indicators and monitoring procedures that can be used to implement progressive social change.
The original version of this paper was presented at the colloquium on Assessing Human Well-Being: A Critical Element of Assessing Progress Toward Sustainable Development, sponsored by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy at the Westminister Institute for Ethics and Human Values, London, Ontario, March 23–25, 1995
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Michalos, A.C. (2003). Combining Social, Economic and Environmental Indicators to Measure Sustainable Human Well-Being. In: Essays on the Quality of Life. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0389-5_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0389-5_2
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