10 - Global Quality Accounts (GQA) and Quality Indicators

Summary

The system accounts in the previous chapters provide a description of the developments of the environment, society and economy as well as the distribution. But the accounts do not answer the question: Are things getting better? In the Global Quality Accounts (GQA), the data from the system accounts are assessed using a quality perspective. In economics, welfare economics and the capital approach are most common, but there are many others as well, from social sciences or natural sciences. There is no perfect approach, just multiple ways of looking at systemic progress. Each of the systems leads to a quality indicator, which provide society with different views.