Pursuit of happiness: why well-being is important
Juliet Michaelson, Senior Researcher at new economics foundation( nef)
Juliet is a Senior Researcher and Programme Director at the Centre for Well-being, nef( the new economics foundation). She has managed a number of research projects which explore the measurement of well-being and its implications for policy, including work on National Accounts of Well-being and the Happy Planet Index. Previously Juliet worked in public sector consultancy, and carried out large-scale social survey research at the National Centre for Social Research. She holds degrees from the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics.
http:// www. neweconomics. org / Twitter- @ nefwellbeing
Sorcha Mahony, Researcher
Sorcha is currently an independent researcher; she previously worked at nef’ s Centre for Well-being for two years between 2010-2012, focusing on exploring the barriers to achieving population-wide well-being. Prior to joining nef, Sorcha worked as a researcher in a self-employed capacity on various projects, within diverse fields such as education and tourism, and completed a PhD in international development. She has also worked at the Community Development Foundation as the National Officer on the Neighbourhood Support Fund project.
The well-being agenda is not new: it has been discussed since at least the fourth century BC. But it is now time for a re-orientation towards this fundamental goal. As has been powerfully shown by current economic and environmental crises – and the related protest movements across the globe – our current way of doing things is not succeeding in producing good lives for all, now or in the future.
The well-being agenda therefore aims to re-focus on these fundamental aims for societies. But unfortunately, it has come to be viewed by some as the purview of the political right. In a sense this is understandable – some of the most public and high profile initiatives promoting attention on, and
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