Measuring Quality of life for policy making in the European Union

11th National Statistics Conference – Istat

"Conoscere il presente, progettare il futuro"

Agnès HUBERT Adviser

BEPA, European Commission

BEPA provides the President of the European Commission, the College of Commissioners and the Commission services with strategic thinking and policy advice, helping to shape policy options in the medium and long term. We operate directly under the President’s authority.http://ec.europa.eu/bepa/index_en.htm

BEPA: The Bureau of European Policy Advisers

OUTLINE

• Statistics and Quality of life in the current EU agenda

• The Changing welfare agenda

• Empowering people, driving change

3

Current EU agenda: Europe 2020 and the stability and growth pact

Long term sustainability: The Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Macroeconomic imbalances: The new "Euro Plus Pact”, a more stringent successor to the Stability and Growth Pact. Focus on budgets

4

Crisis management

•Cost containment imperative

•Investment in sustainability (fixed assets and/or investments in people)

5

The new welfare agenda

Objective: The Union’s aim is to promote peace, its values and the well being of its people (art 3TEU)

Changing focus: From compensating to capacitating (Rawls to Sen)

Financial constraint: efficiency gains in the production and the delivery of well being

Issues: employment, ageing, inequalities, gender equality, changing family structures, migration

6

Key features

Focus on the distributional and design aspects of welfare systems

From access to self-determination (competence, autonomy and relatedness) and co-production (social innovation) measured in perceptions of well being

7

Policy response: social investment• Investing in children: breaking the cycle of

disadvantage• Active inclusion of people excluded from the

labour market• Social services of general interest• Long term care in ageing societies• Confronting Homelessness• Investing in Health• The social economy, social enterprises, social

innovation8

Foresight: Europe in 2030 (ESPAS)• 3 major Trends will shape the world in 2030:Empowerment of individualsGreater stress on sustainable development

(resource scarcity, persistent poverty, climate change)

Emergence of a more polycentric world (power away from the states, growing governance gaps)

•

9

Monitoring quality of life (Well being)

•Why? - value EU Human capital

- Efficiency of welfare systems

•What to measure?-Preference satisfaction: income (material living conditions)-Objective lists: basic material needs+ (Health, education, economic and physical safety)-Eudemonic approach(living well): experience meaning, engagement and strong social relationships (productive and valued activities, governance and basic rights, leisure and social interaction)-Hedonic approach: balance of positive and negative feelings (emotions)-Evaluative approach: satisfaction with life overall (overall experience of life)

10

Empowering people, driving change

•Need for timely specific information for policy makers

•Composite indicators to engage political debate and promote participation

11