Measurement matters for policy and policy matters for well-being. But many standard economic measurements, such as gross domestic product (GDP), can mislead policy-makers to the true health of our economies and societies. Critics argue that there is a gap between the image provided by macro-economic statistics on one side, and people’s perceptions of their own conditions and of society as whole on the other.  

In this keynote address Professor Joseph Stiglitz will move beyond GDP to present a bold agenda to assess societal well-being. Presenting findings from a decade’s work at the OECD, Professor Stiglitz will outline how a dashboard of indicators can reveal who is benefitting from growth, whether that growth is environmentally sustainable, how people feel about their lives, what factors contribute to an individual’s or a country’s success. Many of these themes are summarised in his co-authored book Measuring What Counts: The Global Movement for Well-Being. 

The keynote address will be followed by a panel discussion featuring:

• Dr Clare Leaver, Blavatnik School of Government;
• Rodney Scott ,University of New South Wales;
• Beata Javorcik, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development;
• Avnish Gungadurdoss, Instiglio;
• Dr Mara Airoldi, Government Outcomes Lab (Chair).

The conference will take place online. To attend, please register at this link. 

This public talk is hosted by the Government Outcomes Lab, as part of the Social Outcomes Conference 2021.

ABOUT THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Professor Joseph Stiglitz is a distinguished economist who has made major contributions to the fields of macroeconomics and monetary theory, to development economics and trade theory, and to the theories of welfare economics and wealth distribution. Professor Stiglitz helped create the brand of economics, ‘the economics of information’, which explores the consequences of information asymmetries and pioneered pivotal concepts such as adverse selection and moral hazard. For his work, Stiglitz was awarded the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2011.

Professor Stiglitz is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and a former member and chairman of the (US president's) Council of Economic Advisers. In 2000, Stiglitz founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank on international development based at Columbia University. He has been a member of the Columbia faculty since 2001.

Professor Stiglitz is the author of numerous books and several bestsellers. Recent titles include: Rewriting the Rules of the European Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity and Measuring What Counts: The Global Movement for Well-Being.