Introduction section OECD Conference on well-being indicators in the economic policy programming: the results of the project "Modeling of Equitable and Sustainable Well-Being Indicators for Policy Use"
OECD Conference on well-being indicators in the economic policy programming: the results of the project "Modeling of Equitable and Sustainable Well-Being Indicators for Policy Use"
The High-level Conference “Well-being Analytics for Policy Use in Italy. Incorporating Equitable and Sustainable Well-being Indicators in Policy and Budget Decision-making”, organised by the Directorate I - Economic-financial Analysis and Research - of the Italian Treasury, the OECD and the European Commission, took place on 30 May, in virtual modality.
During the conference, the results of the project "Modeling of Equitable and Sustainable Well-Being Indicators for Policy Use" were presented. The project is funded by the Directorate General for Support for Structural Reforms (DG-Reform) of the European Commission and developed in collaboration with the OECD Center on Well-being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity (WISE).
Speakers included the Under-secretary of State at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Mef), Maria Cecilia Guerra, the Director of the DG Reform, Nathalie Berger, the Director General of the Economic-Financial Analysis and Research (Directorate I) at the Italian Treasury, Riccardo Barbieri Hermitte and Aline Pennisi, Director at the State General Accounting Department (Unit NG-EU, Mef).
As governments grow increasingly interested in using well-being measures to evaluate policies and steer budget decisions, it is necessary to develop suitable modelling tools that can support detailed impact analyses. Among OECD countries, Italy has been the first to link a set of well-being indicators to its economic policy programming, by the Reform law n. 163/2016.
In this project, several models for the following three ESW indicators have been developed: healthy life expectancy at birth; the share of population with excess weight (obese or overweight); and the rate of early leavers from education and training systems, thereby enhancing the analytical capabilities of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Moreover, the OECD Governance Directorate has consulted a large number of Italian institutions to develop an Action Plan on improving the use of well-being metrics in budget-setting and policy-making process in Italy. The event represented the opportunity to deepen the characteristics of the modelling developed during the project and to reflect on possible actions to improve the integration of ESW indicators in the economic-financial programming cycle.
Watch the recording of the event