History of Social Indicators Research and Quality of Life Metrics with Joe Sirgy and Richard Estes

More and more people agree that we need go beyond GDP to measure societal progress, but there is little agreement on how. Early movement sought to augment Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in some way, e.g., to create Green GDP. Today, some push to use a measure of subjective well-being, while others prefer a broader set of multiple social indicators (e.g., health, education, GDP). In this presentation, two leaders of the social indicators and quality of life movement will present the uses of social indicators in quality-of-life research and the movement’s history, from the 1960s into the 2000s.

M. Joseph Sirgy is Real Estate Professor Emeritus at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Extraordinary Professor at North-West University in South Africa.

Richard J. Estes is Emeritus Professor of Social Development at the University of Pennsylvania.

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