Good Enough for Government Work? Life-Evaluation and Public Policy

Resource type
Author/contributor
Title
Good Enough for Government Work? Life-Evaluation and Public Policy
Abstract
A life-evaluation question asks a person to quantify his or her overall satisfaction with life, at the time when the question is asked. If the goal of public policy is to make individuals’ lives better, does it follow that maximizing aggregate life-evaluations constitutes policy success? This paper argues that life-evaluation data provides a solid basis for welfare-consequentialist policy-making. This is illustrated by the successful argument for expanding state-funded mental health services in the United Kingdom.However, life-evaluations do not always provide a complete account of individual welfare. Policy-makers therefore must sometimes inquire into the extent to which individuals’ preferences would be fulfilled, if different policies were to be adopted. This article proposes synthesizing life-evaluationist and preferentist data about individual welfare, as a basis for rational policy-making.
Genre
SSRN Scholarly Paper
Archive ID
3397151
Place
Rochester, NY
Date
2019-05-31
Accessed
9/10/23, 10:33 PM
Short Title
Good Enough for Government Work?
Language
en
Library Catalog
Social Science Research Network
Citation
Semple, N. (2019). Good Enough for Government Work? Life-Evaluation and Public Policy (SSRN Scholarly Paper 3397151). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3397151
Author / Editor