The new survey on social “well-being” will give economists — and voters — a new tool for judging their leaders. 

The British government is starting to measure happiness, anxiety and general well-being as part of its regular economic statistics. (David Brancaccio/Marketplace)

  • Bob Moon: Here’s a question to ponder: scale of zero to 10 — 10 being a state of rapture — “How happy did you feel yesterday?”

The British government wants to compile regular, official assessments along those lines. So it’s knocking on the doors of hundreds of thousands of households across the U.K. Our series Economy 4.0 explores ways to make the financial system better serve more people. Today, special correspondent David Brancaccio looks into whether a well-being index has a place in the cold hard world of financial statistics.

David Brancaccio, Economy 4.0  Marketplace April 5, 2011 

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