cultivar_22_Final_EN

58 ANALYSIS AND PROSPECTIVE STUDIES CULTIVAR Issue 22 APRIL 2021 any enterprise lies not in developing new ideas, but in escaping from old ones”. What is needed is a new dashboard of well-being indi- cators combined with a new approach to policy-mak- ing that takes a more holistic view of policy challenges and puts in place more integrated mechanisms for addressing them. Building on the 2009 Stiglitz-Sen- Fitoussi report and subsequent work by the OECD and others, last year, the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance (HLEG) published a report highlighting the need for both fur- ther improvements in well-being measurement in a number of areas (such as income and wealth inequal- ities, economic insecurity, inequality of opportunity, subjective well-being, trust, and sustainability and resilience), and for anchoring these new measures in policy processes that survive the vagaries of electoral cycles. The world today faces pro- found challenges. While in some respects, well-being has improved since 2010 when the impacts of the financial crisis continued to be deeply felt in many countries, including Portugal, much more needs to be done. According to the just released OECD How’s Life 2020 report, reductions in greenhouse gases emissions in the OECD are far from sufficient to meet climate policy goals while in almost half of OECD countries, more species are at risk of extinction. And nearly two-thirds of people in OECD countries are exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution. Life remains financially very precarious for many households across the OECD, with almost 40% at risk of falling into poverty if they had to forego three months of their income, and 21% reporting having difficulties making ends meet in European countries. At the same time, rapid technological change is transforming many aspects of our lives. Digitalisa- tion brings new opportunities, from new consumer goods to new ways of doing business. But there are significant challenges too. The development of automation technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, is changing both the numbers and kinds of jobs our economies generate and the ways they are organised, leading to widespread concerns about the ‘future of work’. There is also an increasing debate about how new technologies are impacting our quality of life, ranging from cybersecurity to less family interactions and increasing mental health dis- orders. In addition, many developed countries are ageing very rapidly, raising questions about the abil- ity of those of working age to support non-working age populations, not only financially: older people are almost three times more likely to lack social sup- port, relative to younger people, underscoring the importance of addressing old-age loneliness. Inequalities persist in most countries, with people in the top 20% of the income distribution still earning more than five times more than people in the bottom 20%, and women earning on average 13% less than men. Wealth inequality is even more concentrated than income, with the wealthiest 10% of households owning 52% of total wealth on aver- age in the OECD. Regional well-being disparities are also widespread, weighing on social cohesion, and while trust in government has increased since 2010, less than half the population across OECD countries trust their institutions, with only 1 in 3 people feeling they have a say in what the government does. Overall, from financial insecurity in households, through to climate change, biodiversity loss and threats to social cohesion and how democratic insti- tutions perform their functions, there is a need to take bold and integrated action to ensure continued prosperity for people and the planet. Many of the policies which have been implemented across the OECD, not just over the last decade but over the last forty years or so, appear no longer able to improve economic and social outcomes in the ways they once promised. Economic growth cannot continue to be the primary goal of economic policy, from which it is assumed other objectives will flow. Social Economic growth cannot continue to be the primary goal of economic policy, from which it is assumed other objectives will flow. Social and environmental considerations can no longer be dealt with ‘after the event’ but should be integral to economic policy.