Measuring well-being with an integrated system of economic and social accounts

The national accounts provide a systematic overview of the performance of a nation’s economy. An important indicator which can derived from this system is Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Often, (volume growth of) GDP is put on a par with (the increase of) welfare or well-being of the society concerned. The latter, however, contains many other aspects; it is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. In this paper, (economic) well-being is defined, and different methods to take into account the various aspects of well-being are discussed. Subsequently, the System of Economic and Social Accounting Matrices including Extensions (SESAME), the Dutch alternative to measuring well-being, is introduced.