Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item

    A Critique of the Perceived Solid Conceptual Foundations of ISEW & GPI — Irving Fisher's Cognisance of Human-Health Capital in 'Net Psychic Income’

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Brennan, Andrew
    Date
    2013
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Brennan, A. 2013. A Critique of the Perceived Solid Conceptual Foundations of ISEW & GPI — Irving Fisher's Cognisance of Human-Health Capital in 'Net Psychic Income’. Ecological Economics. 88: pp. 159-166.
    Source Title
    Ecological Economics
    ISSN
    0921-8009
    School
    School of Economics and Finance
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/49454
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    This paper puts forward a political economy critique of the perceived solid conceptual foundations of Sustainable Well-Being Indicators (SWBIs) such as ISEW and GPI. A particular version of ‘entropic net psychic income’ has been implanted as the main conceptual basis for these aggregated measures of sustainable economic welfare. However, a well-known limitation of SWBIs is that they do not prudently factor-in measures of investment and depreciation of ‘human-health capital’—yet this is a critical aspect of sustainable well-being. It is argued that under Fisher's psychic income framework, the heart of the indicator is a theory that specifies accounting for some sort of change in the human psyche, i.e. the stock (or fund) of humanhealth capital. Advocates of SWBIs cannot adequately account for the degree of human health or knowledge, because this is not their reference point—‘personal consumption expenditures’ is their reference point. Political economy seeks to avoid abstracting from the whole reality, recognising that endogenous processes of human-health capital formation are overdetermined. This paper thus argues that there is a significant conceptual shortcoming in ISEW and GPI, which, if left unattended will undermine the measure of theoretical legitimacy and empirical efficacy.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Measures of environmental and sustainable socioeconomic welfare and the political economy of capitalism - theoretical reconstruction, technical specification, and critical analysis: GDP, ISEW and GPI
      Brennan, Andrew John (2009)
      This study undertakes a critical analysis of measures of environmental and sustainable socioeconomic welfare from the perspective of political economy. One of the prime motivations for such an inquiry is that Gross Domestic ...
    • Time pressure and the wellbeing of parents with young children in Australia
      Johnson, Sarah E. (2010)
      Parental time pressure, in terms of actual workload and subjective reports, is high and likely to increase in the future, with ongoing implications for personal wellbeing. The combination of parenting young children and ...
    • Methodology for capturing environmental, social and economic implications of industrial symbiosis in heavy industrial areas
      Kurup, Biji R. (2007)
      Industrial operations have been attributed to causing social and environmental problems such as: acid rain; greenhouse gas emissions, air, water and soil pollution; plus health problems to neighbourhood communities. With ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.