A Handbook for Wellbeing Policy-making

A Handbook for Wellbeing Policy-making
Author: Paul Frijters
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2021
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0192896806

This is an open access title. It is available to read and download as a free PDF version on the Oxford Academic platform. It is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International licence. Around the world, governments are starting to directly measure the subjective wellbeing of their citizens and to use it for policy evaluation and appraisal. What would happen if a country were to move from using GDP to using subjective wellbeing as the primary metric for measuring economic and societal progress? Would policy priorities change? Would we continue to care about economic growth? What role would different government institutions play in such a scenario? And, most importantly, how could this be implemented in daily practice, for example in policy evaluations and appraisals of government analysts, or in political agenda-setting at the top level? This volume provides answers to these questions from a conceptual to technical level, by showing how direct measures of subjective wellbeing can be used for policy evaluation and appraisal, either complementary in the short-run or even entirely in the long-run. It gives a brief history of the idea that governments should care about the happiness of their citizens, provides theories, makes suggestions for direct measurement, derives technical standards and makes suggestions on how to conduct wellbeing cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses, and gives examples of how real-world policy evaluations and appraisals would change if they were based on subjective wellbeing. In doing so, it serves the growing interest of governments as well as non-governmental and international organisations in how to put subjective wellbeing metrics into policy practice.

Well-being for Public Policy

Well-being for Public Policy
Author: Ed Diener
Publisher: Oxford Positive Psychology
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2009
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0195334078

The authors explain why subjective indicators of well-being are needed, showing how these can offer useful input and giving examples of policy uses of well-being measures. They also describe the validity of the subjective well-being measures as well as potential problems, then delve into objections to their use for policy purposes.

The Happiness Policy Handbook

The Happiness Policy Handbook
Author: Laura Musikanski
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019-09-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1771423137

Build a better society through happiness policy Thomas Jefferson said that “the purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness.” Yet only now, 270 years later, is the happiness of citizens starting to be taken seriously as the purpose of government. While happiness science is advancing rapidly, and governments and organizations are creating indices for measuring happiness, there is little practical information on how to create policy to advance happiness. Drawing from a deep well of expertise and experience, The Happiness Policy Handbook is the first step-by-step guide for integrating happiness into government policy at all levels. Coverage includes: A concise background on happiness science, indices and indicators, and happiness in public policy Tools for formulating happiness policy and integrating happiness into administrative functions A concept menu of happiness policies Communicating happiness policy objectives to media and engaging with the community A happiness policy screening tool for evaluating the happiness contribution of any policy Policy perspectives from seasoned experts across sectors. The Happiness Policy Handbook is the essential resource for policymakers and professionals working to integrate happiness and well-being into governmental processes and institutions.

Behavioural Public Policy

Behavioural Public Policy
Author: Adam Oliver
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2013-10-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107042631

In this accessible collection, leading academic economists, psychologists and philosophers apply behavioural economic findings to practical policy concerns.

Evidence, Policy and Wellbeing

Evidence, Policy and Wellbeing
Author: Ian Bache
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2019-06-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030213765

This book analyses the role of evidence in taking wellbeing from an issue that has government attention to one that leads to significant policy change. In doing so, it draws on contributions from political science, policy theory and literature specifically on the evidence and policy relationship. The book has three main aims: to understand the role of evidence in shaping the prospects for wellbeing in public policy; to inform the barriers literature on the use of evidence in policy; and, to inform the multiple streams approach (MSA) to agenda-setting. While the book focuses on developments at UK government level, a number of the findings and arguments presented here have wider significance, both in relation to wellbeing developments elsewhere and to the theoretical literatures on agenda-setting and evidence use. The book draws on insights from interviews with policy-makers and stakeholders that were undertaken as part of the work of the Community Wellbeing Evidence Programme of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing.

Routledge Handbook of Well-Being

Routledge Handbook of Well-Being
Author: Kathleen T. Galvin
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2018-05-15
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 131753252X

The Routledge Handbook of Well-Being explores diverse conceptualisations of well-being, providing an overview of key issues and drawing attention to current debates and critiques. Taken as a whole, this important work offers new clarification of the widely used notion of well-being, focusing particularly on experiential perspectives. Bringing together leading authors from around the world, Routledge Handbook of Well-Being reflects on: What it is that is experienced by humans that can be called well-being. What we know about how to understand it. How well-being is manifested in human endeavours through a wide range of disciplines, including the arts. This comprehensive reference work will provide an authoritative overview for students, practitioners, researchers and policy makers working in or concerned with well-being, health, illness and the relation between all three across a range of disciplines, from sociology, healthcare and economics to philosophy and the creative arts.

The Politics and Policy of Wellbeing

The Politics and Policy of Wellbeing
Author: Ian Bache
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2016-08-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1783479337

Government interest in wellbeing as an explicit goal of public policy has increased significantly in recent years, leading to new developments in measuring wellbeing and initiatives aimed specifically at enhancing wellbeing. This book provides the first theoretically informed account of the rise and significance of this agenda, drawing on the multiple streams approach, to consider whether wellbeing can be described as ‘an idea whose time has come’. It reflects on developments across the globe and provides a detailed comparative analysis of two political arenas: the UK and the EU.

The Routledge Handbook of Planning for Health and Well-Being

The Routledge Handbook of Planning for Health and Well-Being
Author: Hugh Barton
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 851
Release: 2015-05-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317542398

Urban planning is deeply implicated in both the planetary crisis of climate change and the personal crises of unhealthy lifestyles. Worldwide health issues such as obesity, mental illness, growing health inequalities and climate vulnerability cannot be solved solely by medicines but also by tackling the social, economic and environmental determinants. In a time when unhealthy and unsustainable conditions are being built into the physical fabric of cities, a new awareness and strategy is urgently needed to putting health and well-being at the heart of planning. The Routledge Handbook of Planning for Health and Well-being authoritatively and comprehensively integrates health into planning, strengthening the hands of those who argue and plan for healthy environments. With contributions from international leaders in the field, the Handbook of Planning for Health and Well-being provides context, philosophy, research, processes, and tools of experienced practitioners through case studies from four continents.

Handbook of Family Policy

Handbook of Family Policy
Author: Guðný Björk Eydal
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2018-11-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 178471934X

The Handbook of Family Policy examines how state and workplace policies support parents and their children in developing, earning and caring. With original contributions from 44 leading scholars, this Handbook provides readers with up-to-date knowledge on family policies and family policy research, taking stock of current literature as well as providing analyses of present-day policies, and where they should head in the future.