An Account of Wellbeing for Wellbeing Frameworks

Governments are increasingly using wellbeing frameworks as a primary way to measure economic and social progress. These frameworks aim to measure a population’s wellbeing in order to develop policy that improves its wellbeing. However, there is strong disagreement as to what wellbeing consists in, both among philosophers and the general public. So, what is it exactly that governments should be trying to promote when they aim to measure and promote wellbeing—what account of wellbeing should they use in wellbeing frameworks? My method is to identify the primary conditions for an account of wellbeing for wellbeing frameworks and find the account of wellbeing that best meets those conditions. When we do this, we find that no existing account of wellbeing for wellbeing frameworks is satisfactory. I describe an account of wellbeing that has not been used in government measures of national wellbeing, which I call the Reflective Value account. I argue this account succeeds in meeting our conditions and so is the best account of wellbeing for this purpose.