IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i5p1931-d327973.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Systems Thinking to Understand National Well-Being from a Human Capital Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Sibel Eker

    (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg 2361, Austria)

  • Leena Ilmola-Sheppard

    (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg 2361, Austria)

Abstract

Well-being has become an important policy goal to replace gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator of national progress. Several multidimensional metrics and indicators of well-being have been developed mostly based on the four-capital model that includes natural, economic, human and social capital. These multidimensional measures of well-being, however, are highly categorical and lack a systems perspective that focuses on underlying mechanisms of the metrics and the interconnections between them. This study aims at bringing a systems thinking approach to understanding and measuring national well-being, particularly from a human capital perspective. For this purpose, we employ a qualitative systems mapping approach and identify the direct or indirect relationships between the well-being indicators related to human capital. The results show that the human capital system is governed by several reinforcing feedback loops through economic progress, health and life expectancy, which gives a central role to human capital to enhance well-being. There are balancing loops, however, that may have adverse effects on human capital formation and well-being, for instance through migration and ageing. Future studies can focus on the other three subsystems in the four-capital model, and on quantifying the relationships between different dimensions of well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Sibel Eker & Leena Ilmola-Sheppard, 2020. "Systems Thinking to Understand National Well-Being from a Human Capital Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-19, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:5:p:1931-:d:327973
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/5/1931/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/5/1931/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fernando J. Garrigos-Simon & M. Dolores Botella-Carrubi & Tomas F. Gonzalez-Cruz, 2018. "Social Capital, Human Capital, and Sustainability: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Edward Glaeser & Giacomo Ponzetto & Andrei Shleifer, 2007. "Why does democracy need education?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 77-99, June.
    3. Paul Anand & Graham Hunter & Ron Smith, 2005. "Capabilities and Well-Being: Evidence Based on the Sen–Nussbaum Approach to Welfare," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 9-55, October.
    4. Wolfgang Lutz & Jesús Crespo Cuaresma & Mohammad Jalal Abbasi‐Shavazi, 2010. "Demography, Education, and Democracy: Global Trends and the Case of Iran," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(2), pages 253-281, June.
    5. Lipset, Seymour Martin, 1959. "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(1), pages 69-105, March.
    6. Friedberg, Rachel M, 2000. "You Can't Take It with You? Immigrant Assimilation and the Portability of Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 221-251, April.
    7. Robert T. Michael, 1972. "The Effect of Education on Efficiency in Consumption," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number mich72-1.
    8. Vemuri, Amanda W. & Costanza, Robert, 2006. "The role of human, social, built, and natural capital in explaining life satisfaction at the country level: Toward a National Well-Being Index (NWI)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 119-133, June.
    9. Costanza, Robert & Fisher, Brendan & Ali, Saleem & Beer, Caroline & Bond, Lynne & Boumans, Roelof & Danigelis, Nicholas L. & Dickinson, Jennifer & Elliott, Carolyn & Farley, Joshua & Gayer, Diane Elli, 2007. "Quality of life: An approach integrating opportunities, human needs, and subjective well-being," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 267-276, March.
    10. Vegard Skirbekk, 2004. "Age and Individual Productivity: A Literature Survey," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 2(1), pages 133-154.
    11. Janet Currie, 2009. "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 87-122, March.
    12. Vegard Skirbekk, 2008. "Fertility trends by social status," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 18(5), pages 145-180.
    13. Gary S. Becker, 1994. "Human Capital Revisited," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 15-28, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Wolfgang Lutz & Endale Kebede, 2018. "Education and Health: Redrawing the Preston Curve," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 44(2), pages 343-361, June.
    15. Shuai Zhang & Binbin Liu & Dajian Zhu & Mingwang Cheng, 2018. "Explaining Individual Subjective Well-Being of Urban China Based on the Four-Capital Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-14, September.
    16. Elsie R. Pamuk & Regina Fuchs & Wolfgang Lutz, 2011. "Comparing Relative Effects of Education and Economic Resources on Infant Mortality in Developing Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 37(4), pages 637-664, December.
    17. Haavard Maridal, J. & Palich, Les & Morgan, Grant & Gardner, Steven & McKinney, Joe & Bolbocean, Corneliu, 2018. "Wellbeing Indices: A Comprehensive Inventory of Standards and a Review of Current Comparative Measures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1-11.
    18. Gary S. Becker, 1994. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck94-1.
    19. Martine Durand, 2015. "The OECD Better Life Initiative: How's Life? and the Measurement of Well-Being," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(1), pages 4-17, March.
    20. Robert Yawson & Jennifer Kuzma, 2010. "Systems Mapping of Consumer Acceptance of Agrifood Nanotechnology," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 299-322, December.
    21. Jesus Crespo Cuaresma & Tapas Mishra, 2011. "Human capital, age structure and growth fluctuations," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(28), pages 4311-4329.
    22. Romina Boarini & Margherita Comola & Conal Smith & Robert Manchin & Femke de Keulenaer, 2012. "What Makes for a Better Life?: The Determinants of Subjective Well-Being in OECD Countries – Evidence from the Gallup World Poll," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2012/3, OECD Publishing.
    23. Yearworth, Mike & White, Leroy, 2013. "The uses of qualitative data in multimethodology: Developing causal loop diagrams during the coding process," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 231(1), pages 151-161.
    24. Helen L. Berry & Thomas D. Waite & Keith B. G. Dear & Anthony G. Capon & Virginia Murray, 2018. "The case for systems thinking about climate change and mental health," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(4), pages 282-290, April.
    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. Zhenshan Yang, 2023. "Human capital space: a spatial perspective of the dynamics of people and economic relationships," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Ema Gusheva & Vincent de Gooyert, 2021. "Can We Have Our Cake and Eat It? A Review of the Debate on Green Recovery from the COVID-19 Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.

    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. Gavin Jones & Divya Ramchand, 2013. "Education and human capital development in the giants of Asia," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 27(1), pages 40-61, May.
    2. Doris A. Oberdabernig & Stefan Humer & Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, 2018. "Democracy, Geography and Model Uncertainty," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(2), pages 154-185, May.
    3. Crespo Cuaresma, Jesus & Oberdabernig, Doris Anita, 2014. "Education and the Transition to Sustained Democracy," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 170, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    4. Shuai Zhang & Binbin Liu & Dajian Zhu & Mingwang Cheng, 2018. "Explaining Individual Subjective Well-Being of Urban China Based on the Four-Capital Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-14, September.
    5. Wyndow, Paula & Li, Jianghong & Mattes, Eugen, 2013. "Female Empowerment as a Core Driver of Democratic Development: A Dynamic Panel Model from 1980 to 2005," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 34-54.
    6. Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini, 2009. "Democratic Capital: The Nexus of Political and Economic Change," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 88-126, July.
    7. Emilia Justyna Powell & Steven Christian McDowell & Robert O’Brien & Julia Oksasoglu, 2021. "Islam-based legal language and state governance: democracy, strength of the judiciary and human rights," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 376-412, September.
    8. Quamrul H. Ashraf & Francesco Cinnirella & Oded Galor & Boris Gershman & Erik Hornung, 2017. "Capital-Skill Complementarity and the Emergence of Labor Emancipation," Working Papers 2017-1, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    9. Jesús Crespo Cuaresma & Wolfgang Lutz & Warren Sanderson, 2014. "Is the Demographic Dividend an Education Dividend?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(1), pages 299-315, February.
    10. Monica Martinez-Bravo, 2017. "The Local Political Economy Effects of School Construction in Indonesia," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 256-289, April.
    11. Welander, Anna & Lyttkens, Carl Hampus & Nilsson, Therese, 2014. "Globalization and Child Health in Developing Countries: The Role of Democracy," Working Paper Series 1016, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    12. Gruber, Lloyd & Kosack, Stephen, 2014. "The tertiary tilt: education and inequality in the developing world," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 54202, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Daron Acemoglu & Tuomas Pekkarinen & Kjell G. Salvanes & Matti Sarvimäki, 2021. "The Making of Social Democracy: The Economic and Electoral Consequences of Norway’s 1936 Folk School Reform," NBER Working Papers 29095, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Papaioannou, Elias & Siourounis, Gregorios, 2008. "Economic and social factors driving the third wave of democratization," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 365-387, September.
    15. Sirianne Dahlum, 2023. "Joining forces: Social coalitions and democratic revolutions," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(1), pages 42-57, January.
    16. Dahlum, Sirianne & Knutsen, Carl Henrik, 2017. "Do Democracies Provide Better Education? Revisiting the Democracy–Human Capital Link," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 186-199.
    17. Pierre Levasseur & Luis Ortiz-Hernandez, 2017. "How does childhood obesity affect school achievement? Contributions from a qualitative analysis implemented in Mexico City," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2017-21, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    18. Alesina, Alberto & Giuliano, Paola, 2014. "Family Ties," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 4, pages 177-215, Elsevier.
    19. Jayanta Kumar Bora & Rajesh Raushan & Wolfgang Lutz, 2019. "The persistent influence of caste on under-five mortality: Factors that explain the caste-based gap in high focus Indian states," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-20, August.
    20. Lee, Jungwoo & Yang, Jae-Suk, 2019. "Global energy transitions and political systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 115(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:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:5:p:1931-:d:327973. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.