At the invitation of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, a high-level expert commission headed by Lord Gus O'Donnell discussed the research knowledge on human well-being and happiness. The experts show how human wellbeing can and should receive more systematic attention in public policy.
In addition to Lord O'Donnell, the commission comprised renowned economists Prof. Angus Deaton (Princeton University), Lord Prof. Richard Layard (London School of Economics), Dr. David Halpern (Behavioural Insights Team at the British Cabinet Office) and Martine Durand (OECD).
One day prior to the report's presentation in London, the experts discussed their innovative proposals with the Federal Chancellor's Minister of State, Dr. Helge Braun, the State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Labour, Thorben Albrecht, the Executive Board member of DIW, Prof. Gert Wagner and 130 invited representatives of political Berlin. The discussion covered a systematic assessment of the impact of policies on people's well-being with a new form of cost benefit analysis.
Aart De Geus praised the proposals for a better alignment of policies with people's wellbeing, and he illustrated their potential in a German context. Public policy is all about what really matters to people, he said and added that macroeconomic data alone did not present a sufficient picture. The Bertelsmann Stiftung's work on an inclusive growth model and the promotion of governance innovations in the OECD countries could also benefit from the findings of the expert commission. Since 2005, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has been involved in broader progress measurement beyond gross domestic product (GDP), for instance with the Sustainable Governance Indicators (SGI), which are due to release the new data for 2014 shortly, the Chairman of the Board said.
