Well-Being in Poor Countries

Well-Being in Poor Countries Partha Dasgupta The current consensus on ways of measuring the quality of life, the author argues, is premature because these measures are misleading. They neglect aspects of living of the most profound value to personhood. An attempt is made here to see how some of these aspects can be included in measures of well-being and a preliminary ranking of the world's poorest countries on this wider basis is provided. This new ranking is compared with those based on customary measures of living standard. Finally, the author examines whether as a matter of fact poor countries are faced with cruel choices among competing constituents of well-being.