On What Really Matters: Evidence from Alternative Well-Being Indicator in EU-28 Countries

Veronika Jurčišinová, Ľubica Štiblárová
Statistika, 102(1): 59-72
https://doi.org/10.54694/stat.2021.39

Abstract
As the traditional approaches to measure economic growth have been lately a subject to several criticisms, there is an urge to find more suitable indicators covering the environmental and social aspects of progress. The aim of this paper is therefore to construct an alternative, country-specific indicator of subjective well-being, the so-called adjusted happy planet index (AHPI) for 28 EU member states in years 2012 and 2017. The ordinary least squares regression reveals a weak negative correlation between AHPI and gross domestic product per capita (GDPpc), but since we analyze countries, it is appropriate to use spatial econometric methods, which revealed the spatial relationship between EU-28 countries. Furthermore, the spillover effects are observed as well. This holds especially for natural resources, the reduction of which decreases a level of AHPI in EU-28 countries.

Keywords
AHPI, GDP, environment, spatial econometric model, subjective well-being