Happiness - Well Being and Value

One of my students is doing a very interesting project based on understanding 'Value' - contrasting monetary value with real 'value'


Here is a quotation from Salon IFA from the Society of Antiquaries with some relevance to the value debate:

Heritage Assets: Can Accounting Do Better?


Considerable debate is taking place on bulletin boards and discussion forums over the issue of accounting standards for heritage ‘assets’. Salon’s editor argued that there is a presumption against realising the value of museum assets (as the outcry at the sale of a Lowry painting by Bury Council in Greater Manchester illustrates), so their true balance sheet value is zero, in which case they do not need to appear in the accounts at all and thus there is no need for an accounting standard.


Fellow Kate Clark countered by saying that the accounting standard needs to include better reporting of the costs of holding assets and of providing the services that flow from the asset in terms of conservation, research, access, education, maintenance and presentation: ‘If the new standard is to happen,’ Kate says, ‘then it is vital that both sides of the equation are accounted for ─ not just one side.’


With his understanding of the way that accountants always seem to win, John Carman said that the only way to account for such costs on the balance sheet (which is what the Accounting Standards Board consultation is about, rather than profit and loss accounting) was to treat the costs of holding assets as a kind of depreciation: a problem then occurs when the asset reaches a nil or negative value and the costs continue to accrue. As an ‘asset’ the object is now valueless and an accounting case can then be made for disposal: a threat that is very real.


Fellow Robin Turner contributed an apt quotation from Robert Kennedy (cited in Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell’s St Andrew’s Day Speech on Scottish cultural policy in 2003): ‘The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.’


John Carman pointed out that the ‘Public Value’ approach outlined at the February conference organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund is designed to catch those other values: the challenge that remains is how to articulate those cultural values in terms as strong and powerful as economic ones ─ ‘what,’ he asks, ‘is the instrumental value of a buried archaeological feature?’


Tom Boulton, of CABE, argues that the problem lies in allowing economists to dominate the debate on value: some values are measurable, some can be partially quantified and some can only be represented in ‘common sense arguments’ based on what people say and believe.



Happiness - the science behind your smile

By Daniel Nettle

It goes into the background to happiness/well being debate and is full of insights into difficulty of measuring either.

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