NEF Publish ‘Well-being Evidence for Policy: A Review’

Tuesday, 1 May 2012, 4:13 PM

In April, the new economics foundation (nef) published a report reviewing the growing body of well-being evidence from the past 30 years. The document aims to provide the tools necessary to transfer this academic knowledge into a practical format for policymakers.

Well-being Evidence for Policy: A Review reviews the current evidence on well-being (up to the end of 2011), providing an introduction to the state of current knowledge. The policy areas which have been identified include: the economy, social relationships and community, health, the local environment, education and care. There is also a section on personal characteristics, which, although often not amenable to direct policy changes, play an important part in the understanding of the factors that are important to an individual’s well-being.

The report’s authors note that the recent increase in academic research on the causes of well-being has been matched by a growth of interest in well-being from policymakers, particularly highlighting the Office of National Statistics (ONS) ongoing project on Measuring National Wellbeing. The ONS is working to develop new measures of national well-being which will cover the quality of life of people in the UK, environmental and sustainability issues, as well as the economic performance of the country.

Nef states that the report will be updated regularly to keep policymakers abreast of the academic development of well-being research.

Access the full report on the nef website here.