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Needs and Wants: What is Social Progress and How Should it be Measured

In: The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

Author

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  • Lars Osberg

    (McCulloch Professor of Economics, Dalhousie University)

Abstract

In this chapter, Lars Osberg has the daunting task of examining the conceptual issues involved in defining and measuring social progress. As he highlights in his introduction, while much had been made of the fact that Canada in 2000 earned first place in the United Nations' Human Development Index, other indices have produced much less brilliant results. Modern pluralist societies, however, have no common benchmark from which to define the "good" society. As a result, Osberg argues, "social progress" in a liberal society must be measured in the "enabling" sense that a society progresses when it enables more of its citizens to achieve the kind of life they personally value. Some of the empirical difficulties involved in constructing a measure of the attainment of social and economic rights are discussed and several quantitative indices of social progress are examined using the prism of human rights.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Osberg, 2001. "Needs and Wants: What is Social Progress and How Should it be Measured," The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress, in: Andrew Sharpe, Executive Director & France St-Hilaire, Vice-President , Research & Keith Banting, Di (ed.), The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s, volume 1, Centre for the Study of Living Standards;The Institutute for Research on Public Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:sls:repsls:v:1:y:2001:lo
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    File URL: http://www.csls.ca/repsp/1/02-osberg.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Julie A. Nelson, 1995. "Feminism and Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 131-148, Spring.
    2. Peter Saunders, 1998. "Using Budget Standards to Assess the Well-Being of Families," Discussion Papers 0093, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    3. Lars Osberg & Andrew Sharpe, 2002. "International Comparisons of Trends in Economic Well-being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 349-382, June.
    4. Michael Hagerty & Robert Cummins & Abbott Ferriss & Kenneth Land & Alex Michalos & Mark Peterson & Andrew Sharpe & Joseph Sirgy & Joachim Vogel, 2001. "Quality of Life Indexes for National Policy: Review and Agenda for Research," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 1-96, July.
    5. Andrew Sharpe, 1999. "A Survey of Indicators of Economic and Social Well-being," CSLS Research Reports 99wb, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    6. Lars Osberg & Andrew Sharpe, 2002. "An Index of Economic Well–Being for Selected OECD Countries," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(3), pages 291-316, September.
    7. Ferber, Marianne A. & Nelson, Julie A. (ed.), 1993. "Beyond Economic Man," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226242019, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Corak, Miles, 2001. "Les enfants se portent-ils bien ? Mobilite intergenerationnelle et bien-etre de l'enfant au Canada," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 2001171f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques.
    2. Deepak Kumar Behera, 2016. "Measuring Socio-Economic Progress In India: Issues And Challenges," Revista Galega de Economía, University of Santiago de Compostela. Faculty of Economics and Business., vol. 25(2), pages 117-132.
    3. Miles Corak, 2001. "Are the Kids All Right? Intergenerational Mobility and Child Well-being in Canada," The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress, in: Andrew Sharpe, Executive Director & France St-Hilaire, Vice-President , Research & Keith Banting, Di (ed.), The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s, volume 1, Centre for the Study of Living Standards;The Institutute for Research on Public Policy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Well-being; Wellbeing; Well Being; Social Progress; Social; Societal; Society; Values; Rights; Economic Rights; Social Rights; Human Rights; Index; Indexes; Indices; Indicator; Indicators;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values

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