What is progress?

Abstract

At a moment of acute financial insecurity, when unemployment rates are rising (in the USA to over 10%) and national debts are deepening, the comfortable assumptions that have governed the western world demand renewed scrutiny. For 60 years, the public has taken for granted the relentless economic and social progress of society. Most people living in high-income countries today know only stability and protection. Yet we are now entering an era when economies have contracted—and in some cases, continue to contract. By any standard economic measure, society is regressing not progressing. It is poorer, not richer. And this backwards step in our wealth might be a backwards step in our wellbeing too.But thanks to a Commission chaired by the Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, governments have an opportunity to redefine the meaning of human progress. Instead of relying on a one-dimensional measure of success—the gross domestic product (GDP)—the Stiglitz Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress argues that societies should insist on a broader understanding of their achievements and predicaments. A “looming environmental crisis” only makes this issue even more urgent.The central message of the Stiglitz report is that human wellbeing is far more than the sum of our economic resources. Wellbeing also depends upon health, education, environment, housing, access to information, the ability to communicate, and the overall quality of our life experience. Reducing ideas of human progress to a single number misses aspects of what human beings deem most important in their lives. Instead of measuring the performance of national economies, the activities and experiences of households should also be considered. Rather than absolute levels of wealth, the distribution of income and the extent of inequality should also command our concern—as should the conditions in which we live and the capabilities we need in order to achieve what we see as critical to our happiness.The Stiglitz Commission was initiated by President Nicolas Sarkozy in February, 2008. The events of the past 12 months have made its findings especially forceful and compelling. There are signs that those concerned with the intersection between health and economics are responding to Stiglitz's call for a different way of measuring the world. It is a way that pays attention to the hopes and aspirations of human beings, beyond the brute economics of nation states. We commend it. At a moment of acute financial insecurity, when unemployment rates are rising (in the USA to over 10%) and national debts are deepening, the comfortable assumptions that have governed the western world demand renewed scrutiny. For 60 years, the public has taken for granted the relentless economic and social progress of society. Most people living in high-income countries today know only stability and protection. Yet we are now entering an era when economies have contracted—and in some cases, continue to contract. By any standard economic measure, society is regressing not progressing. It is poorer, not richer. And this backwards step in our wealth might be a backwards step in our wellbeing too. But thanks to a Commission chaired by the Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, governments have an opportunity to redefine the meaning of human progress. Instead of relying on a one-dimensional measure of success—the gross domestic product (GDP)—the Stiglitz Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress argues that societies should insist on a broader understanding of their achievements and predicaments. A “looming environmental crisis” only makes this issue even more urgent. The central message of the Stiglitz report is that human wellbeing is far more than the sum of our economic resources. Wellbeing also depends upon health, education, environment, housing, access to information, the ability to communicate, and the overall quality of our life experience. Reducing ideas of human progress to a single number misses aspects of what human beings deem most important in their lives. Instead of measuring the performance of national economies, the activities and experiences of households should also be considered. Rather than absolute levels of wealth, the distribution of income and the extent of inequality should also command our concern—as should the conditions in which we live and the capabilities we need in order to achieve what we see as critical to our happiness. The Stiglitz Commission was initiated by President Nicolas Sarkozy in February, 2008. The events of the past 12 months have made its findings especially forceful and compelling. There are signs that those concerned with the intersection between health and economics are responding to Stiglitz's call for a different way of measuring the world. It is a way that pays attention to the hopes and aspirations of human beings, beyond the brute economics of nation states. We commend it.