An Evidence-Based Christmas Wish…
24. December 2008 – 15:57 by Francesco MolinariGovernment effectiveness is key - says a recent report from Deutsche Bank Research - to enhance people’s satisfaction about the quality of their lives. For most EU countries, allowing citizens more control over their own lives seems advisable and possible, and people should demand and practise this.
The main message of the new study, entitled “The broad basis of societal progress: freedom, trust, tolerance, education, and much more” - which is also available online (pdf) - can be summarised as follows:
a) All the main development theories trying to go beyond per capita GDP as a measure of societal progress tend to use the same explanatory variables - from education to innovation, from tolerance to freedom etc. - to give an assessment of a country’s level of achievement;
b) Statistical indicators of those same variables were highly correlated with each other across a sample of 20 OECD countries in 2005. Particularly high was the relationship between life satisfaction, tertiary education, government effectiveness and (low) corruption.
c) Looking at the countries evolution over time, it can be seen that performing better is actually possible. In spite of the different starting points, there is always room for sustainable change - especially if and when a large number of actors and a wide variety of actions are involved. State and local government, citizens and businesses, all of them could and should contribute to “making capitalism happier” in Europe and in the whole world.
d) In particular, Governments’ role is to foster trust and cooperation among people, letting them free to do more and better for their own well-being and the progress of society.
In these dismal times of global crisis, an evidence-based set of recommendations, pretty much in the Christmas spirit, comes out of a leading socio-economic research. Greetings to all PEP-NET members!
