An evaluation of the dynamics of economic well-being in Europe: a statistical analysis

In recent years the development of the idea of sustainability relative to economic well-being has resulted in projects to measure it. In Italy among others Istat has developed a multidimensional approach to measure “equitable and sustainable well-being”, the project named Benessere equo e sostenibile (BES). Another project was developed by Unioncamere Veneto and the University of Venice, Oltre il PIL - Beyond GDP. In this study we use some of the indicators carried out (proposed) in the two projects in order to describe the economic well-being in Europe before and after the 2008 crisis. In particular we consider indicators of two of the twelve BES dimensions (Economic well-being and Work and life balance) and indicators of one “pillar” (Economy) from Beyond GDP project. This “pillar” includes two domains: the Material well-being and the Work. We use twelve indicators from BES and Beyond GDP. It has not been possible to consider all the economic well-being and work indicators present in the two projects, because they are not available in the Eurostat database. We apply cluster analysis in order to find clusters of European countries with a similar economic well-being, as defined by the chosen indicators. Moreover we analyse the dynamics of economic well-being on the basis of the changes in the clusters composition.