Good Enough for Government Work? Life-Evaluation and Public Policy
| Autor: | Noel Semple |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Public policy
media_common.quotation_subject Welfare 050109 social psychology 050105 experimental psychology Life-evaluation Argument Preferences 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences media_common Government Public economics 05 social sciences Policy analysis Work life Mental health Life evaluation Happiness Business Positive psychology Psychology Law Social Sciences (miscellaneous) |
| Zdroj: | Law Publications |
| ISSN: | 1573-7780 1389-4978 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10902-020-00266-0 |
| Popis: | A life-evaluation question asks a person to quantify his or her overall satisfaction with life, at the time when the question is asked. If public policy seeks to make individuals’ lives better, does it follow that changes in aggregate life-evaluations track policy success? This paper argues that life-evaluation is a practical and philosophically sound way to measure and predict welfare for the purpose of analyzing policy options. This is illustrated by the successful argument for expanding state-funded mental health services in the United Kingdom. However, life-evaluations sometimes fail to adequately measure individual welfare. Policy analysts therefore must sometimes inquire into the extent to which individuals’ preferences would be fulfilled, if different policies were to be adopted. This article proposes synthesizing life-evaluation and preference-fulfilment data about individual welfare, as a basis for welfare-consequentialist policy analysis. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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