Executive Summary Could better metrics be the key to better economic performance as well as to greater social progress? Yes, because what we measure affects what we do, argue Stiglitz, Sen & Fitoussi in the 2009 report of the Commission on the Measur

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A. Executive Summary

Could better metrics be the key to better economic performance as well as to greater social progress?

Yes, because what we measure affects what we do, argue Stiglitz, Sen & Fitoussi in the 2009 report of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress

Starting from the basic assumption that the quality of policies adopted in a certain sphere of activity depends on the appropriateness and the explanatory power of the measurements available assessing the respective field, the Commission's report points out that inasmuch as some of our current metrics are flawed, so too may be the inferences we draw. With that said, Stiglitz, Sen & Fitoussi express the ambitious aim to provide an impetus for on-going research into the development of better metrics that will allow a better assessment of economic performance and social progress. By doing so, they academics hope to pave the way for advancing social progress further and detecting ways how to better sustain it over time.

With this in mind, Stiglitz, Sen & Fitoussi develop a broad set of recommendations aimed at the identification of new and more relevant indicators of social progress as well