IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v184y2021ics0921800921000549.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An appraisal of interlinkages between macro-economic indicators of economic well-being and the sustainable development goals

Author

Listed:
  • Cook, David
  • Davíðsdóttir, Brynhildur

Abstract

Recognising the well-known limitations of economic growth as a litmus test of progress and the call by Target 19 of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17 to “develop measurements on progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product”, this paper advances understanding of the linkages between alternative measures of economic well-being, the well-being economy and the SDGs. A conceptual model is presented, linking four capital assets to well-being goals and domains, which are connected to related SDGs. An assessment is conducted on the extent to which Gross Domestic Product and five alternative indicators of economic well-being (Environmentally Adjusted Net Domestic Product, Measure of Economic Welfare, Genuine Savings, Genuine Progress Indicator and Inclusive Wealth Index) align with (a) the dimensions of economic well-being, and (b) various environmental, economic, social and institutional targets set by the SDGs. The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is found to be the most comprehensive in coverage, accounting for market-based welfare, services from essential capital, and various environmental and social costs, and linking directly to targets in fourteen of the seventeen SDGs. The paper discusses how greater use of alternative measures of economic well-being by policymakers can encourage transitions to economies which prioritise well-being and desirability objectives.

Suggested Citation

  • Cook, David & Davíðsdóttir, Brynhildur, 2021. "An appraisal of interlinkages between macro-economic indicators of economic well-being and the sustainable development goals," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:184:y:2021:i:c:s0921800921000549
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.106996
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800921000549
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.106996?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ekins, Paul & Folke, Carl & De Groot, Rudolf, 2003. "Identifying critical natural capital," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2-3), pages 159-163, March.
    2. Kubiszewski, Ida & Costanza, Robert & Franco, Carol & Lawn, Philip & Talberth, John & Jackson, Tim & Aylmer, Camille, 2013. "Beyond GDP: Measuring and achieving global genuine progress," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 57-68.
    3. Kenny, Daniel C. & Costanza, Robert & Dowsley, Tom & Jackson, Nichelle & Josol, Jairus & Kubiszewski, Ida & Narulla, Harkiran & Sese, Saioa & Sutanto, Anna & Thompson, Jonathan, 2019. "Australia's Genuine Progress Indicator Revisited (1962–2013)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 1-10.
    4. Mubashir Qasim & Les Oxley & Eoin McLaughlin, 2020. "Genuine savings as a test of New Zealand weak sustainability," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 89-127, January.
    5. Aitken, Andrew, 2019. "Measuring Welfare Beyond GDP," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 249, pages 3-16, August.
    6. Barbier, Edward B. & Burgess, Joanne C., 2017. "The sustainable development goals and the systems approach to sustainability," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 11, pages 1-23.
    7. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    8. Stockhammer, Engelbert & Hochreiter, Harald & Obermayr, Bernhard & Steiner, Klaus, 1997. "The index of sustainable economic welfare (ISEW) as an alternative to GDP in measuring economic welfare. The results of the Austrian (revised) ISEW calculation 1955-1992," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 19-34, April.
    9. David Cook & Nína Saviolidis & Brynhildur Davíðsdóttir & Lára Jóhannsdóttir & Snjólfur Ólafsson, 2019. "Synergies and Trade-Offs in the Sustainable Development Goals—The Implications of the Icelandic Tourism Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-23, August.
    10. Robert Costanza & Ida Kubiszewski & Enrico Giovannini & Hunter Lovins & Jacqueline McGlade & Kate E. Pickett & Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir & Debra Roberts & Roberto De Vogli & Richard Wilkinson, 2014. "Development: Time to leave GDP behind," Nature, Nature, vol. 505(7483), pages 283-285, January.
    11. Brent Bleys, 2012. "Beyond GDP: Classifying Alternative Measures for Progress," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 109(3), pages 355-376, December.
    12. Pelenc, Jérôme & Ballet, Jérôme, 2015. "Strong sustainability, critical natural capital and the capability approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 36-44.
    13. Joseph E. Stiglitz & Amartya Sen & Jean-Paul Fitoussi, 2009. "The measurement of economic performance and social progress revisited," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2009-33, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    14. Ekins, Paul, 2003. "Identifying critical natural capital: Conclusions about critical natural capital," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2-3), pages 277-292, March.
    15. Hoekstra,Rutger, 2019. "Replacing GDP by 2030," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108497336, September.
    16. Lawn, Philip A. & Sanders, Richard D., 1999. "Has Australia surpassed its optimal macroeconomic scale? Finding out with the aid of 'benefit' and 'cost' accounts and a sustainable net benefit index," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 213-229, February.
    17. Daniel Francisco Pais & Tiago Lopes Afonso & Ant nio Cardoso Marques & Jos A Fuinhas, 2019. "Are Economic Growth and Sustainable Development Converging? Evidence from the Comparable Genuine Progress Indicator for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(4), pages 202-213.
    18. Daly, Herman E, 1974. "The Economics of the Steady State," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(2), pages 15-21, May.
    19. Cook, David & Davidsdottir, Brynhildur & Petursson, Jón Geir, 2015. "Accounting for the utilisation of geothermal energy resources within the genuine progress indicator—A methodological review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 211-220.
    20. Jason Hickel, 2019. "The contradiction of the sustainable development goals: Growth versus ecology on a finite planet," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(5), pages 873-884, September.
    21. Pearce, David W. & Atkinson, Giles D., 1993. "Capital theory and the measurement of sustainable development: an indicator of "weak" sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 103-108, October.
    22. Lawn, Philip A., 2003. "A theoretical foundation to support the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), and other related indexes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 105-118, February.
    23. Talberth, John & Weisdorf, Michael, 2017. "Genuine Progress Indicator 2.0: Pilot Accounts for the US, Maryland, and City of Baltimore 2012–2014," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1-11.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. van Krevel, Charan & Peters, Marlou, 2024. "How natural resource rents, exports, and government resource revenues determine Genuine Savings: Causal evidence from oil, gas, and coal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    2. Cook, David & Kaji, Takeshi Benjamín & Davíðsdóttir, Brynhildur, 2023. "An assessment of the scope and comprehensiveness of well-being economy indicator sets: The cases of Iceland, Scotland and New Zealand," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    3. Elena B. Dvoryadkina & Elizaveta A. Belousova, 2023. "Ideas of well-being economy in the theories of local self-government," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 24(4), pages 107-124, January.
    4. Hametner, Markus, 2022. "Economics without ecology: How the SDGs fail to align socioeconomic development with environmental sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    5. Cook, David & Davíðsdóttir, Brynhildur, 2021. "An estimate of the Genuine Progress Indicator for Iceland, 2000–2019," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    6. Cook, David & Davíðsdóttir, Brynhildur & Malinauskaite, Laura, 2023. "The role of ecosystem services in the doughnut economy – The example of whale ecosystem services in Disko Bay, Greenland," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    7. David Cook & Brynhildur Davíðsdóttir & Ingunn Gunnarsdóttir, 2022. "A Conceptual Exploration of How the Pursuit of Sustainable Energy Development Is Implicit in the Genuine Progress Indicator," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-23, March.
    8. Ahlerup, Pelle & Olsson, Ola, 2023. "Sustainable Economic Growth: A Critical Assessment of SDG 8.1," Working Papers in Economics 834, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    9. Lazarus, Elias & Brown, Clair, 2022. "Improving the genuine progress indicator to measure comparable net welfare: U.S. and California, 1995–2017," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    10. Meijuan Wang & Donghua Yu & Haiqian Chen & Yang Li, 2022. "Comprehensive Measurement, Spatiotemporal Evolution, and Spatial Correlation Analysis of High-Quality Development in the Manufacturing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-19, May.
    11. de Castro-Pardo, Mónica & Martín Martín, José María & Azevedo, João C., 2022. "A new composite indicator to assess and monitor performance and drawbacks of the implementation of Aichi Biodiversity Targets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    12. Cook, David & Malinauskaite, Laura & Davíðsdóttir, Brynhildur & Ögmundardóttir, Helga, 2022. "Capital assets underpinning economic well-being – The example of whale ecosystem services in Arctic coastal communities," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    13. Zhang, Fan & Zhang, Jiewei & Gao, Ya & Wang, Zhuquan, 2024. "How does optimizing the business environment affect the capital flows between northern and southern China? From the perspective of enterprises' location choice for out-of-town investment," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    14. Yuxuan Xu & Jie Lyu & Ying Xue & Hongbin Liu, 2022. "Does the Agricultural Productive Service Embedded Affect Farmers’ Family Economic Welfare Enhancement? An Empirical Analysis in Black Soil Region in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-22, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cook, David & Davíðsdóttir, Brynhildur, 2021. "An estimate of the Genuine Progress Indicator for Iceland, 2000–2019," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    2. David Cook & Brynhildur Davíðsdóttir & Ingunn Gunnarsdóttir, 2022. "A Conceptual Exploration of How the Pursuit of Sustainable Energy Development Is Implicit in the Genuine Progress Indicator," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-23, March.
    3. Van der Slycken, Jonas & Bleys, Brent, 2020. "A Conceptual Exploration and Critical Inquiry into the Theoretical Foundation(s) of Economic Welfare Measures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    4. Long, Xianling & Ji, Xi, 2019. "Economic Growth Quality, Environmental Sustainability, and Social Welfare in China - Provincial Assessment Based on Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 157-176.
    5. David Cook & Nína Saviolidis & Brynhildur Davíðsdóttir & Lára Jóhannsdóttir & Snjólfur Ólafsson, 2019. "Synergies and Trade-Offs in the Sustainable Development Goals—The Implications of the Icelandic Tourism Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-23, August.
    6. Jonas Van der Slycken & Brent Bleys, 2021. "Towards ISEW and GPI 2.0, part I: developing two alternative measures of economic welfare with distinct time and boundary perspectives for Belgium," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 21/1026, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    7. Mirko Armiento, 2016. "The Sustainable Welfare Index for Italy, 1960-2013," Working Papers 1601, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2016.
    8. Cook, David & Kaji, Takeshi Benjamín & Davíðsdóttir, Brynhildur, 2023. "An assessment of the scope and comprehensiveness of well-being economy indicator sets: The cases of Iceland, Scotland and New Zealand," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    9. Ernestina Rubio-Mozos & Fernando Enrique García-Muiña & Laura Fuentes-Moraleda, 2019. "Rethinking 21st-Century Businesses: An Approach to Fourth Sector SMEs in Their Transition to a Sustainable Model Committed to SDGs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-23, October.
    10. Jonas Van der Slycken & Brent Bleys, 2021. "Towards ISEW and GPI 2.0, part II: Is Europe faring well with growth? Evidence from a welfare comparison in the EU-15 from 1995 to 2018," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 21/1027, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    11. Bleys, Brent & Whitby, Alistair, 2015. "Barriers and opportunities for alternative measures of economic welfare," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 162-172.
    12. Fox, Mairi-Jane V. & Erickson, Jon D., 2020. "Design and meaning of the genuine progress indicator: A statistical analysis of the U.S. fifty-state model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    13. Van der Slycken, Jonas & Bleys, Brent, 2024. "Is Europe faring well with growth? Evidence from a welfare comparison in the EU-15 (1995–2018)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    14. Jonas Slycken & Brent Bleys, 2023. "Towards ISEW and GPI 2.0: Dealing with Cross-Time and Cross-Boundary Issues in a Case Study for Belgium," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 557-583, August.
    15. Albino Prada & Patricio Sánchez-Fernández, 2019. "Transforming Economic Growth into Inclusive Development: An International Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 437-457, August.
    16. Rugani, Benedetto & Marvuglia, Antonino & Pulselli, Federico Maria, 2018. "Predicting Sustainable Economic Welfare – Analysis and perspectives for Luxembourg based on energy policy scenarios," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 288-303.
    17. Lazarus, Elias & Brown, Clair, 2022. "Improving the genuine progress indicator to measure comparable net welfare: U.S. and California, 1995–2017," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    18. Shashank Vikram Pratap Singh & V. K. Shrotryia, 2022. "Income Inequality and Human Wellbeing: An Empirical Analysis Using Atkinson Measure of Inequality," Emerging Economy Studies, International Management Institute, vol. 8(2), pages 116-128, November.
    19. Daniel Ştefan Armeanu & Georgeta Vintilă & Ştefan Cristian Gherghina, 2017. "Empirical Study towards the Drivers of Sustainable Economic Growth in EU-28 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-22, December.
    20. Hametner, Markus, 2022. "Economics without ecology: How the SDGs fail to align socioeconomic development with environmental sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:184:y:2021:i:c:s0921800921000549. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.