1. | pag. 1 A Simplified Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (SISEW) for France 1980-2006 Brent Bleys Degrowth 18/04/2008

2. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 2 The ISEW Story ISEW –measure that tries to capture the overall impact of economic activity on human well-being –developed by Herman Daly and John Cobb –more recently: GPI and MDP implementations in a growing number of countries result: optimal physical scale of the economy has been surpassed

3. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 3 Optimal Physical Scale (Lawn) Threshold Hypothesis (Max-Neef): “for every society there seems to be a period in which economic growth seems to bring about an improvement in the quality-of-life, but only up to a point - the threshold point - beyond which, if there is more economic growth, quality-of-life may begin to deteriorate.”

4. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 4 The ISEW for the UK (Jackson et al.)

5. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 5 The ISEW for Belgium

6. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 6 A Simplified ISEW Item Selection rationale for a SISEW: –large amount of data needed –inconsistent set of items and valuation methods –e.g. noise pollution proposal: omit from the ISEW those items that have low quantitative significances when compared to most other items (based on original case study) -> Simplified ISEW

7. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 7 A Simplified ISEW Methodology ITEMS Personal Consumption Expenditures+1.35 Losses from Income Inequality-0.16 Value of Household Work+0.59 Public Expenditures Health & Education+0.15 Costs of Commuting-0.05 Costs of Air Pollution-0.07 Natural Capital Depletion-0.47 Costs of Climate Change-0.28 Costs of Ozone Layer Depletion-0.11 Net Capital Growth+/-0.09 Change in NIIP+/-0.08

8. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 8 A Simplified ISEW Belgium

9. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 9 A Simplified ISEW Conclusions easier compilation, without affecting the outcome of the exercise (except for changes in absolute terms) highlights the items that most urgently need an internationally agreed upon methodology manual -> possibility of calculating SISEW/capita for a large group of countries using a standardized set of valuation methods important to keep in mind that the eventual omission of any items is based on historical observations + differences between countries

10. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 10 SISEW for France General Compilation of a Simplified ISEW for France, 1980-2006 data obtained from –INSEE, IMF, WIDER’s WIID –WRI, UNEP’s Geo Data Portal 11 items, methodology taken over from Jackson et al.’s ISEW study on the UK (1997)

11. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 11 SISEW for France

12. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 12 SISEW France Positive Items

13. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 13 SISEW France Negative Items

14. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 14 Alternative Measures of Well-Being increasing interest in alternative measures of well-being: –OECD’s World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy –EU’s ‘Beyond GDP’ conference –Globescan survey reveals a worldwide support for alternative measures large number of possible alternatives, the ISEW and GPI being one of them

15. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 15 ISEW and Policy ISEW has some potential for policy-making: –more comprehensive approach than traditional economic accounting –captures the trade-off between these dimensions –possible first step towards a different set of economic accounts However, a country should never be guided by one single index (neither GDP, nor ISEW) -> different types of indicators are needed

16. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 16 ISEW and Policy (2) the ISEW should be seen as a measure of economic welfare: the value added by the economic system to natural capital sustainability is not captured at all by the ISEW, supplemental accounts are needed to account for this need for the development of a standardized and widely supported methodology (crucial)

17. A Simplified ISEW 26/06/2007 | pag. 17 ISEW and Policy (3) great potential as a communication tool (empirical translation of the criticism on GDP) often put forward in such a way = contribution to the degrowth debate Thank you! Questions?