This lecture has been cancelled due to the Wellington power outage.
Abstract
Can we use wellbeing for public policy-making?
Following Treasury’s development of its Living Standards Framework, the Minister of Finance has announced that 2019 will see the government’s first “Wellbeing Budget”. But all budgets deal with health, education, social assistance and other social outcomes. How might this one be different and – in particular – how might a wellbeing policy framework be devised and implemented to assist policy prioritisation? This presentation will examine alternative approaches to wellbeing frameworks, and will then discuss some challenges with implementing this approach to policy-making.
About the presenter
Arthur Grimes
Professor Arthur Grimes holds the Chair of Wellbeing and Public Policy at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Government. He is also Senior Fellow at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Chair of the Hugo Group (a network of 100 New Zealand corporates) and a member of the World Wellbeing Panel. Prior positions include Chairman and Chief Economist of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Chief Executive of Southpac Investment Management Limited, Chief Economist of the National Bank of New Zealand, and Board Member of the Financial Markets Authority.
Arthur has a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BSocSc (Hons) from University of Waikato. His current research focuses on the economics of wellbeing, and on urban economics.