Abstract
Measures of economic well-being are strictly linked to phases of economic development. While GDP may be considered a good indicator of well-being in the early phases of economic development, its relevance tends to progressively decrease in favor of alternative measures as countries go on the development path. Economists and Statisticians of the Università Politecnica delle Marche have always been at the forefront of this research agenda, thanks to the foresight of their master Giorgio Fuà. Inspired by his works, the Ancona’s team has continued on his track, actively contributing to the debate on beyond GDP and suggesting alternative measures. Moreover, following Fuà’s thought, that is, the relevance of the local dimension to evaluate the well-being of citizens, Ancona’s scholars propose the measurement of well-being in Italy at National, Regional and local level, in the long and short run, through the construction of composite indicators as well as applying new statistical techniques.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
National Income, 1929–1932, Senate document no. 124, 73d Congress, 2d session.
- 2.
See Ciommi et al. (2013).
- 3.
The New Republic, October 20, 1962, cited in Cobb, Clifford, Ted Halstead, and Jonathan Rowe, If the GDP is Up, Why is America Down? The Atlantic Monthly, October 1995, page 67).
- 4.
Authors’ translation based on Fuà (1993).
- 5.
In fact, since 2013, ISTAT has annually published a Report on Equitable and Sustainable Well-being that provides an overview of the well-being of Italy and its Regions. See, ISTAT (2017) for more details.
- 6.
The project aims at reconstructing long series of several Italian economic and non-economic variables to celebrate the 150 years since Italy’s political Unification. See http://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/quaderni-storia/index.html.
- 7.
The new estimates of GDP (Baffigi 2013) makes exception to this rule. There is evidence of a more regular pattern of the Italian economic development in the 1880–1910 period that suggests a different alternative interpretation of the phases of Italy long-run economic growth, especially regarding the interpretation that traces back Italy’s economic development to the beginning of the nineteenth century, i.e. the Giolittian era, (e.g. Fuà 1981; Maddison 1991; Rossi et al. 1993). Indeed, the first forty years of life of the newly born Italian Kingdom are now viewed as a phase of slight but significant growth, not as stagnant decades followed by a sudden and sharp acceleration in the pace of growth around the end of the nineteenth century.
- 8.
See http://ec.europa.eu/environment/beyond_gdp/index_en.html for more information on the Beyond GDP initiative and Ciommi et al. (2013) for a detailed description of the most relevant indices proposed.
- 9.
Benessere Equo e Sostenibile (in Italian). See https://www4.istat.it/en/well-being-and-sustainability/well-being-measures/bes-report for more details.
- 10.
Namely Health, Education and training, Work and life balance, Economic well-being, Social relationships, Politics and Institutions, Safety, Subjective well-being, Landscape and cultural heritage, Environment, Research and innovation and Quality of services.
- 11.
The selection depended on three factors: (i) maximum intersection with the original BES; (ii) maximum overlapping with similar international proposals; (iii) availability of the time series.
- 12.
See http://www.besdelleprovince.it/ for more details.
- 13.
The budget reform demands that the BES plays a crucial role in the process of defining economic policies by accounting on the effects of such policy also on some fundamental dimensions that quantify the quality of life. Law n. 163/2016 of the Italian government. See http://www.mef.gov.it/inevidenza/article_0276.html for more details.
- 14.
This is a Latin expression, taken from Cicero’s De Oratore (II, 369). The English translation is “history is life’s teacher”.
- 15.
- 16.
Authors’ translation based on Fuà (1993).
References
Ardeni, P. G., & Mauro, Gallegati. (1991). Long-term trends and cycles in the Italian economy (1861–1988). Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia, 50, 193–235.
Ardeni, P. G., & Mauro, Gallegati. (1994). Crescita e fluttuazioni nell’economia italiana (1861–1913). Una reinterpretazione, Politica Economica, 10, 119–153.
Baffigi, A. (2013). National accounts, 1861—2011. In G. Toniolo (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the Italian economy since unification (pp. 157–186). New York: Oxford University Press.
BES. (2017). ISTAT. Il Benessere Equo e sostenibile in Italia. Roma. https://www.istat.it/it/files/2017/12/Bes_2017.pdf.
Clementi, F., Gallegat, M., & Gallegati, M. (2015). Growth and cycles of the Italian economy since 1861: The new evidence. Italian Economic Journal, 1(1), 25–59.
Chelli, F. M., Ciommi, M., Emili, A., Gigliarano, C., & Taralli, S. (2016). Assessing the equitable and sustainable well-being of the Italian provinces. International Journal of Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems, 24(Suppl. 1), 39–62.
Chelli, F. M., Ciommi, M., Ermini, B., Gallegati, M., Gentili, A., & Gigliarano, C. (2018). San Matteo e la provvidenza. I luoghi ei tempi dello sviluppo italiano. Rivista giuridica del Mezzogiorno, 32(3), 643–672.
Ciocca, P. (Ed.). (1994). Il progresso economico dell’Italia. Permanenze, discontinuità. Bologna: limiti, Il Mulino.
Ciocca, P., & Toniolo, G. (Eds.). (1976). L’economia italiana nel periodo fascista. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Ciommi, M., Gigliarano, C., Chelli, F. M., & Gallegati, M. (2013). Behind, beside and beyond GDP: Alternative to GDP and to macro-indicators. E-Frame EU-Project. Deliverable3(1). http://www.eframeproject.eu/fileadmin/Deliverables/Deliverable3.1.pdf.
Ciommi, M., Gentili, A., Ermini, B., Gigliarano, C., Chelli, F. M., & Mauro, Gallegati. (2017a). Have your cake and eat it too: The well-being of the Italians (1861–2011). Social Indicators Research, 134(2), 473–509.
Ciommi, M., Gigliarano, C., Emili, A., Taralli, S., & Chelli, F. M. (2017b). A new class of composite indicators for measuring well-being at the local level: An application to the equitable and sustainable well-being (BES) of the Italian provinces. Ecological Indicators, 76, 281–296.
CMEPSP. (2009). Survey of existing approaches to measuring socio-economic progress. Commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress. https://www.insee.fr/en/information/2662494
Delli Gatti, D., Gallegati, M., & Gallegati, M. (2005). On the nature and causes of business fluctuations in Italy, 1861–2000. Explorations in Economic History, 42, 81–100.
Ercolani, P. (1969). Documentazione statistica di base. In G. Fuà (Ed.), Lo sviluppo economico in Italia. Storia dell’Economia Italiana negli ultimi cento anni. Volume III, Studi di settore e documentazione di base (pp. 380–460). Milano: Franco Angeli.
Fenoaltea, S. (1988). The extractive industries in Italy, 1861–1913: General methods and specific estimates. Journal of European Economic History, 17(1), 117–125.
Fuà, G. (1966). Notes on Italian economic growth 1861–1964. Milano: Ciaffré.
Fuà, G. (Ed.). (1969). Lo sviluppo economico in Italia. Storia dell’Economia negli ultimi cento anni. Volume III—Studi di settore e documentazione di base. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Fuà, G. (Ed.). (1981). Lo sviluppo economico in Italia. Storia dell’Economia Italiana negli ultimi cento anni. Volume I—Lavoro e reddito. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Fuà, G. (1993). Crescita economica. Le insidie delle cifre. Bologna: Societa editrice Il Mulino.
Fuà, G., & Gallegati, M. (1993). An annual chain index of Italy’s “Real” product, 1861–1989. Review of Income and Wealth, 42(2), 207–224.
Fuà, G. (1994). Crescita, benessere e compiti dell’economia politica. Il Mulino, Rivista bimestrale di cultura e di politica, 43(5), 761–768.
Gallegati, M., & Stanca, L. M. (1998). Le fluttuazioni economiche in Italia, 1861–1995. Ovvero, il camaleonte e il virus dell’influenza. Torino: Giappichelli.
Gigliarano, C., Balducci, F., Ciommi, M., & Chelli, F. M. (2014). Going regional: An index of sustainable economic welfare for Italy. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 45, 63–77.
Golinelli, R., & Monterastelli, M. (1990). Un metodo di lavoro per la ricostruzione di serie storiche compatibili con la nuova contabilità nazionale (1951–1989), Nota di lavoro n. 9001. Bologna: Prometeia.
ISTAT. (1957). Indagine statistica sullo sviluppo del reddito nazionale in Italia dal 1861 al 1956, Annali di statistica, serie VIII (Vol. IX). Roma.
Maddison, A. (1991). A revised estimate of Italian economic growth, 1861–1989. BNL Quarterly Review, 177, 225–241.
Rey, G. M. (Ed.). (1991). I conti economici dell’Italia. I. Una sintesi delle fonti ufficiali. 1890–1970. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
Rossi, N., Sorgato, A., & Toniolo, G. (1993). I conti economici italiani: una ricostruzione statistica, 1890–1990. Rivista di Storia Economica, 10, 1–47.
Stiglitz, J. E., Sen, A., & Fitoussi, J.-P. (2009). Report by the commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/118025/118123/Fitoussi+Commission+report. Accessed November 15, 2018.
Toniolo, G. (Ed.). (1978). L’economia italiana 1861–1940. Bari: Laterza.
Toniolo, G. (1988). Storia economica dell’Italia liberale (1850–1918). Bologna: Il Mulino.
Vitali, O. (1969). La stima del valore aggiunto a prezzi costanti per rami di attività. In G. Fuà (Ed.), Lo sviluppo economico in Italia (Vol. 3). Milano: Franco Angeli.
Zamagni, V. (1993). The economic history of Italy, 1860–1990: Recovery after decline. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chelli, F.M., Ciommi, M., Gallegati, M. (2019). From GDP to BES: The Evolution of Well-Being Measurement. In: Longhi, S., et al. The First Outstanding 50 Years of “Università Politecnica delle Marche”. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33879-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33879-4_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-33878-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-33879-4
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)