Measuring Individual Economic Well-Being and Social Welfare within the Framework of the System of National Accounts

Abstract

While the agenda of “beyond GDP” encompasses measurements that lie outside boundaries of the , key aspects of individual well‐being and social welfare can be incorporated into an SNA framework. We bring together the relevant theoretical literature and the empirical tools needed for this purpose. We show how consumption‐based measures of economic welfare can be integrated into the national accounts without changing their production or asset boundary. At the same time, explicit normative and methodological choices are required to select a social welfare function. The paper provides guidance how to make these choices transparent and how to present social welfare measures.