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Alternative Economic Indicators

The call for alternative indicators to measure the well-being of a society and its sustainability has become almost fashionable. Defining these indicators and applying them is tough work requiring the articulation and quantification of additional values and variables and political agreement on their applicability. They must then be translated into measures of success by sector, project, and personnel. Conventional economic measures which look at GNP, GDP, and per capita income often do not provide sufficient indication of a nation's economic and social well-being. What is called successful in the short run often fails in the long run. Better measures are needed to connect action to consequence. A number of people in the TOES network have taken remarkable steps to redefine the way we thing about what works. Some begin with a determination of social and economic goals, and then deduce the measures. Others begin with where we are, and build inductively. This workshop invites those endeavoring to advance the indicators process to join the deliberations.

Moderator:

• Winifred Armstrong, 400 Central Park West, Apt. 5P, New York, New York 10025; (212) 865-3078.

• Anthony Friend, Institute for Research on Environment and Economy, University of Ottawa, 165 Waller St., Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6NS Canada; (613) 564-3313; currently working with UNEP/World Bank on environmental accounting.

• John Cobb, Jr., 777 Cambridge Way, Claremont, CA 91711; (909) 626-2686, Professor of Philosophy and Theology; Dean, School of Theology, Claremont Theological Seminary, Claremont, CA; co-author with Herman Daly of For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future (Boston: Beacon Press). Will present a preliminary "Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare."

• Frank Bracho, Comision del Sur (South Commission), Avenida Libertador, Centro Libertador, P.H., Torre Oeste, Caracas, Venezuela; tel: 74.83.58; tel: 27520; fax: 951.67.85; former Executive Secretary, South Commission, organizer and contributor to The Caracas Report on Alternative Development Indicators.

• Dr. Bade Onimode, chair of the London-based Institute of African Alternatives, consultant to the UN Economic Commission for Africa for the report on The African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment and its program of popular participation in African recovery and development.

• Nel Hofstra, Asst. Professor of Business Sociology and Business Policy, Erasmus University, Rotterdam.

• Dr. Robert W. Hunt, Professor of Political Science, Illinois State University, has worked in Asia and Africa on the role of voluntary organizations in development with U.S.A.I.D., the World Bank and NGO's.

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