Measuring Progress: Is Life Getting Better?

Edited by: R Eckersley

eBook - January 1998 - eRetailers

A wide-ranging exploration of national progress spanning social, economic and environmental perspectives.

This book is the most wide-ranging exploration of national progress yet undertaken, spanning social, economic and environmental perspectives. It brings together some of Australia’s leading researchers to consider indicators of national performance, what they tell us about the quality and sustainability of life in Australia, and how these measures can be improved. It also includes commentaries by senior bureaucrats, academics and community representatives. + Full description

At one level, the debate is about the adequacy of Gross Domestic Product, as the dominant indicator of a nation’s performance, relative to both the past and other nations. However, the debate also reaches far beyond this question to challenge conventional thinking about progress and the relationships between economic activity, quality of life, health and well-being, and ecological sustainability.

- Short description

News

No longer available in a print edition.

Reviews

"The topic is important. I particularly welcome the spread of papers written from very different discipline perspectives. There is an intense interest in the changes that are occurring in Australian society. This work is a top-rate contribution to the debate."
Bob Gregory, Australian National University

"I doubt whether my perceptions of progress have been radically altered by this book, but it has provided me with a better appreciation of a range of differing views."
Winton Bates, Agenda Vol 6 No 1, 1999

Details

ePDF | January 1998
ISBN: 9780643097179
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Available from eRetailers

Features

New measures of progress
Uses and abuses of GDP as a sole measure
Causes and correlations of happiness
What “middle Australia” thinks about the changes reshaping their lives
Income distribution and poverty
Changes in the workplace and the family
Health and well-being
Measuring civic and social trust
The state of the environment

Preface

1. Progress and its Measurement
Perspectives on Progress: Economic Growth, Quality of Life and Ecological Sustainability. R Eckersley
Citizenship and Progress. M Salvaris
The Science and Politics of New Measures of Progress: A United States Perspectives. T Halstead
Measuring Changes in Economic Welfare: The Genuine Progress Indicator for Australia. C Hamilton
Measures of Economic Activity and Welfare: The Uses and Abuses of GDP. S Dowrick & J Quiggin
A Framework for the Presentation of Indicators of National Progress. D Trewin

2. Well-being and Quality of Life
Measuring Progress in Population Health and Well-being. C Mathers & Bob Douglas
Measuring Social Capital as Part of Progress and Well-being. E Cox
Who Enjoys Life and Why: Measuring Subjective Well-being. A Wearing & B Headey
Incomes, Standards of Living and Quality of Life: Preliminary Findings from the Middle Australia Project. M Pusey

3. Work, Poverty and Income
Progress in the Workplace. S Richardson
The Role of Indicators of Income Poverty in the Measurement of National Progress. P Saunders
Indicators of Income Inequality. A Harding
Incorporating Non-cash Income and Expenditure in the Measurement of Inequality and Poverty. D Johnson

4. The Natural Environment
The Titanic or the Ark? Indicators of National Progress Towards Environmental Sustainability. V Brown
Reporting on the State of Our Environment. I Lowe
Introduction to Environmental Indicators. T Fleming
Environmental Indicators for Biological Diversity. D Saunders
Environmental Indicators for Land Resources. A Hamblin
Environmental Indicators for the Atmosphere. M Manton
Environmental Indicators for Estuaries and the Seas. T Ward
Environmental Indicators for Human Settlements. P Newton

5. Responses and Discussion

6. Biography Notes

Index