Measuring Happiness - the RSA's View

Matthew Taylor, The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), gives his views on why we should measure well-being.

Yesterday I appeared in a Today programme package linked to the launch of Action for Happiness as well as the continuing work of the ONS on well-being measures. Also yesterday, the RSA launched Gallup’s well-being and health survey to a packed room. All of which provides a chance to summarise the main reasons in favour of governments, and those seeking to influence governments, wanting to understand what drives well-being.

First, decades of research have offered reasons to believe (a) that GDP growth and a variety of other traditional indicators are not a sufficient basis for describing national social progress and (b) that there are reasonably reliable ways of measuring various forms of well-being.

Second, the debate about well-being can be more interesting and engaging than much of the technocratic squabbling which has passed for political debate since the decline of traditional class politics. Some people, like John Humphries yesterday, criticise ideas like happiness and well-being by saying they are subjective notions. But not only can aspects of well-being be objectively measured and averaged across large groups, the very fact that these ideas are contested makes for a valuable debate.

Third, on an individual level the debate about what makes us feel good and enjoy life helps us see that the things we want now, the things we want for the long term and the things which seem to make us happiest are often not the same and that part of being an effective person is understanding and grappling with this fact of human nature.

Fourth, all this stuff can lead to very concrete insights. Action for Happiness points out that investing in mental health services offers a much greater happiness premium than most other forms of public investment.

Judging by the quality of questions from the audience, the well-being debate is growing in momentum. Sometimes national statistics are launched into a vacuum of public interest and engagement. This certainly won’t be the case when ONS starts to reveal the outcome of its well-being research later this year.

Matthew Taylor is the Chief Executive of the RSA (though we think he should smile more in his photographs!)