L to R: A/Prof. Udoy Saikia, Prof. Fran Baum (Chair), A/Prof. Philip Lawn, Prof. Julie Ratcliffe.
On Tuesday 12th March, the Southgate Institute hosted a policy club to discuss the value of national indicators for public health and wellbeing. Two different approaches to national indicators were presented.
Associate Professor Udoy Saikia from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University presented his work surveying youth in Timor-Leste using the Wellbeing Index.
Associate Professor Philip Lawn, an ecological economist from the University of Adelaide and the University of Newcastle, Australia, presented on the Genuine Progress Indicator, an alternative to the gross domestic product that takes into account social and environmental factors such as environmental costs of production, unpaid work, and the distribution of income.
Professor Julie Ratcliffe acted as respondent, reflecting on the presentations and arguing that both approaches to indicators was needed, and that there was a role for objective and subjective indicators of wellbeing.
The event was well attended, and generated lots of discussion on how we can monitor the health and wellbeing of a nation’s population.
The video recording of the event is currently available at: http://video.flinders.edu.au/events/SouthgateInstitutePolicyDay_2019.cfm