Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This report surveys the growing interest in understanding local and regional development in terms of its contribution to human well-being. It highlights the limits of traditional measures of development, notably GDP and its variants, and charts the search for alternative measures of development. It examines attempts to introduce a concern with well-being in local and regional development policy and the political barriers to achieving this.

Keywords

development local regional well-being

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agency of Commerce and Community Development (2014) Vermont 2020: State of Vermont Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy 2014–2020. Montpellier, VT: State of Vermont. Available at: http://accd.vermont.gov/sites/accd/files/VT%202020%20CEDS.pdf (accessed 4 August 2015).

Atkinson

Fuller

Painter

(2012) Wellbeing and place. In: Atkinson

Fuller

Painter

(eds) Wellbeing and Place. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Bagstad

Shammin

(2011) Can the Genuine Progress Indicator better inform regional progress? A case study for Northeast Ohio. Ecological Indicators 18: 330–341.

Canzanelli

(2001) Overview and learned lessons on Local Economic Development, Human Development, and Decent Work. Geneva: International Labour Organisation (http://www.ilsleda.org/usr_files/papers/3_led1739726.pdf)

Cingano

(2014) Trends in income inequality and its impact on economic growth. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 163. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5jxrjncwxv6j-en (accessed 4 August 2015).

Clarke

Lawn

(2008) Is measuring genuine progress at the sub-national level useful? Ecological Indicators 8: 573–581.

Costanza

Hart

Posner

Talberth

(2009) Beyond GDP: The need for new measures of progress. The Pardee Papers No. 4. Boston: The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University.

Coyle

(2014) GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

Daly

Cobb

(1990) For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future. Boston: Beacon Press.

10.

Daly

McElwee

(2014) Forget the GDP. Some states have found a better way to measure our progress. New Republic, 3 February. Available at: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116461/gpi-better-gdp-measuring-united-states-progress (accessed 4 August 2015).

11.

Demos (2011) Beyond GDP: New Measures for a New Economy. New York, NY: Demos.

12.

Diaz-Serrano

Rodríguez-Pose

(2012) Decentralization, subjective well-being, and the perception of institutions. Kyklos 65(2): 179–193.

13.

Dietz

Neumayer

(2006) Some constructive criticisms of the index of sustainable economic welfare. In: Lawn

(ed.) Sustainable Development Indicators in Ecological Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 186–208.

14.

Easterlin

(1974) Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In: David

Weber

(eds) Nations and Households in Economic Growth. New York, NY: Academic Press, 98–125.

15.

Easterlin

McVey

Switek

Sawangfa

Smith Zweig

(2010) The happiness-income paradox revisited. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(52): 22463–22468.

16.

European Commission (2013) Commission Staff Working Document: Progress on ‘GDP and beyond’ actions. Brussels, 2.8.2013. SWD (2013) 303 final. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/enveco/pdf/SWD_2013_303.pdf (accessed 4 August 2015).

17.

Gertner

(2010) The rise and fall of the GDP. New York Times Magazine, 13 May. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/magazine/16GDP-t.html?_r=0 (accessed 4 August 2015).

18.

Glaeser

(2012) The Triumph of the City. London: Pan.

19.

Glaeser

Gottlieb

Ziv

(2014) Unhappy cities. NBER Working Paper No. 20291. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

20.

Gray

Lobao

Martin

(2012) Making space for wellbeing. Cambridge Journal of Regional, Economy and Society 5: 3–13.

21.

Harari

Y-N

(2014) Homo Sapiens. A Brief History of Humankind. London: Vintage.

22.

Higgins

Campanera

Nobajas

(2014) Quality of life and spatial inequality in London. European Urban and Regional Studies 21(1): 42–59.

23.

Jack

(2010) Place matters: The significance of place attachments for children’s well-being. British Journal of Social Work 40: 755–771.

24.

Jany-Catrice

Marlier

(2013) Regional indicators of well-being. The case of France. In: Sirgy

Phillips

Rahtz

(eds) Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Cases VI. Dordrecht: Springer, 19–44.

25.

Kahneman

Deaton

(2010) High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional wellbeing. Proceedings of the National Academy Sciences 107(38): 16489–16493.

26.

Kahneman

Krueger

Schkade

Schwarz

Stone

(2004) Toward national well-being accounts. American Economic Review 94(2): 429–434.

27.

Kim

Lee

(2013) The development and application of a Community Wellbeing Index in Korean metropolitan cities. Social Indicators Research 119(2): 533–558.

28.

Kim

Kee

Lee

(2015) Components in measuring community wellbeing: Perspectives of citizens, public officials, and experts. Social Indicators Research 121(2): 345–369.

29.

Kubiszewski

Costanza

Franco

Lawn

Talberth

Jackson

Aylmer

(2013) Beyond GDP: Measuring and achieving global genuine progress. Ecological Economics 93: 57–68.

30.

Kuznets

(1934) National income, 1929–1932. National Bureau of Economic Research Bulletin, 7 June: 1–12.

31.

Lager

van Hoven

Meijering

(2012) Places that matter: Place attachment and wellbeing of older Antillean migrants in the Netherlands. European Spatial Research and Policy 19(1): 81–94.

32.

Layard

(2005) Happiness: Lessons from a New Science. London: Allen Lane.

33.

Marks

Hooghe

Schakel

(2010) The Rise of Regional Authority: A Comparative Study of 42 Democracies. London: Routledge.

34.

Max-Neef

(1995) Economic growth and quality of life: A threshold hypothesis. Ecological Economics 15: 115–118.

35.

Morgan

(2004) Sustainable regions: Governance, innovation and scale. European Planning Studies 12(6): 871–889.

36.

Morrison

(2011) Local expressions of subjective well-being: The New Zealand experience. Regional Studies 45(8): 1039–1058.

37.

Morrison

(2014) The measurement of regional growth and wellbeing. In: Fischer

Nijkamp

(eds) Handbook of Regional Science. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 277–289.

38.

Neumayer

(2013) Weak versus Strong Sustainability: Exploring the Limits of Two Opposing Paradigms, 4th edn. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

39.

OECD (2013) How’s Life? Measuring Well-being. Paris: OCED.

40.

OECD (2014) How’s Life in Your Region? Measuring Regional and Local Well-being for Policy Making. Paris: OECD.

41.

Orviska

Caplanova

Hudson

(2014) The impact of democracy on well-being. Social Indicators Research 115(1): 493–508.

42.

Ostry

Berg

Tsangarides

(2014) Redistribution, inequality, and growth. IMF Staff Discussion Note No. 14/2. Available at: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2014/sdn1402.pdf (accessed 4 August 2015).

43.

Perrons

(2011) Regional development and equality: Towards a capabilities perspective? In: Pike

Rodríguez-Pose

Tomaney

(eds) Handbook of Local and Regional Development. London: Routledge.

44.

Perrons

(2012) Regional performance and inequality: Linking economic and social development through a capabilities approach. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 5(1): 15–29.

45.

Perrons

Dunford

(2013) Regional development, equality and gender: Moving towards more inclusive and socially sustainable measures. Economic and Industrial Democracy 34(3): 483–499.

46.

Pettit

(2012) New progress index pits wealth vs. well-being. Maryland Reporter. Available at: http://marylandreporter.com/2012/10/12/commentary-new-progress-index-pits-wealth-vs-well-being/ (accessed 4 August 2015).

47.

Pike

Rodr íguez-Pose

Tomaney

(2006) Local and Regional Development. London: Routledge.

48.

Pike

Rodríguez-Pose

Tomaney

(2007) What kind of local and regional development and for whom? Regional Studies 41(9): 1253–1269.

49.

Piketty

(2014) Capital in the 21st Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

50.

Porter

Stern

Green

(2015) Social Progress Index 2015. Available at: http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/data/spi (accessed 4 August 2015).

51.

Scott

Bell

(2013) Trying to measure local well-being: Indicator development as a site of discursive struggles. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 31: 522–539.

52.

Seers

(1969) The Meaning of Development. IDS Communication 44. Brighton: Institute of Development Studies.

53.

Sen

(1999) Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

54.

Smarts

(2012) Well-being in London: Measurement and use. GLA Economics Current Issues Note 35. London: Mayor of London. Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/cin35_0.pdf (accessed 4 August 2015)

55.

Stiglitz

Sen

Fitoussi

J-P

(2010) Mis-measuring our Lives. Why GDP Doesn’t Add Up. The Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. New York, NY: The New Press.

56.

Tomaney

(2014a) Region and place I: Institutions. Progress in Human Geography 38(1): 131–140.

57.

Tomaney

(2014b) Region and place 2: Belonging. Progress in Human Geography 39(4): 507–561.

58.

Victor

(2010) Questioning economic growth. Nature 468 (18 November): 370–371.

59.

Wiles

Allen

RES

Palmer

Hayman

Keeling

Kerse

(2009) Older people and their social spaces: A study of well-being and attachment to place in Aotearoa New Zealand. Social Science and Medicine 68(4): 664–671.

Region and place III

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References