Global initiatives in measuring human wellbeing: convergence and difference
J. Allister McGregor
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Abstract
This paper reviews a range of initiatives across the world to measure development and progress in terms of human wellbeing. It explores the proposition that there is a growing consensus as to how this might be done. The paper identifies a range of points around which these initiatives are converging and also a range of ways in which there are fundamental differences. The paper suggests that these differences have deeper conceptual, epistemological and ontological roots than are often recognised and that these must be confronted if the momentum of the movement to find better measures of societal development and progress are to be maintained.