Event:Measures of Subjective Well-being for Public Policy

From Wikiprogress.org

The conference (13-15 July) aims to bring together philosophers and non-philosophers - from psychologists and sociologists to economists and public policy practitioners - to discuss the philosophical foundations of the use of measures of subjective well-being in public policy. There are many philosophical issues involved in such a practice, which have so far been relatively unexplored. These include:

• How do measures of subjective well-being relate to philosophical accounts of happiness and well-being?
• Are subjective well-being measures valid and prudentially relevant, and are they intra- and inter-personally comparable?
• How do measures of subjective well-being relate to other measures of well-being, such as GDP? Can we compare these different kinds of measures?
• How can and should measures of subjective well-being be used to monitor progress, inform policy design, and appraise policy?
• Do such measures lead towards a new kind of political utilitarianism?

These issues have been largely unexplored in part because of the lack of dialogue between philosophers and non-philosophers working on the role of subjective well-being in public policy. This conference seeks to bridge that gap, offering a unique opportunity to promote inter-disciplinary dialogue on how well-being research might best be applied to policy-making.

The Keynote speakers are:

• Richard Layard
• Peter Railton
• Valerie Tiberius
• Dan Haybron

Link to conference website

• Measures of Subjective Well-being for Public Policy