Should policymakers care about well-being?

Although I would probably, if asked, describe my work at nef as being part of the ‘battle of ideas’, it’s not all that often that I would use the phrase to describe a day in the office. But last week I found myself truly in the thick of it, subjecting my ideas about well-being research to the scrutiny of a conversation with a dedicated opponent. I went head-to-head in an Intelligence Squared podcast debate with Paul Ormerod, author of an Institute of Economic Affairs report which argued that well-being data should have no role in policy making.

I’m happy to report that overall it was a pretty enjoyable experience. I remained unconvinced by Paul’s arguments that using well-being data in policy making, rather than providing an important source of additional information on the welfare of citizens, would in fact be the road to tyranny at the hands of faceless technocrats. But he was a lively sparring partner in a conversation that I hope should prove interesting listening. Judge for yourself by listening to the podcast...