There are many things in life that are difficult to put a value on. As a wellbeing economist working for an independent economic consultancy (BiGGAR Economics), I’m interested in finding ways of ensuring we take better account of impacts that go beyond traditional economic metrics like jobs and income. More jobs and higher incomes can be beneficial for wellbeing, but not always, and not for everyone. Sometimes the ‘new thing’ that creates those jobs and extra incomes threaten aspects of our lives that are just as important, if not more so – our health, our communities, the environment, amongst other vital things.

As a society, we’ve gotten into the habit of thinking of life in pounds and pence, profit and loss. There is obviously far more to life than making money, which is why wider impacts need to be considered in our individual and societal decision making. However, from an accounting perspective and weighing up the impacts of certain decisions and whether something is worth the cost of its implementation, thinking in pounds and pence has its uses.

There is now a monetary value on having a satisfying life. In 2023 prices, one unit of life satisfaction for one year is worth £15,400. What this means is that if there is an impact on an area of life that isn’t easily valued by traditional economic metrics, yet it is known to reduce or increase people’s life satisfaction, then we can better account for this impact, bringing it into consideration where previously it might not have been. This is known as the WELLBY approach, and the HM Treasury have been recommending using the WELLBY approach to evaluate policy since 2021.

I’ve not yet seen clear examples of WELLBYs being used to actually influence policy decisions. However, there are examples from us at BiGGAR Economics and others of using WELLBYs to evaluate impact. We’ve been using WELLBYs to help charities and universities articulate their impacts, evaluate community projects, and strengthen business cases for various projects. This not only helps bring impacts that might otherwise be ignored into decisions, but also helps demonstrate their meaningful contributions to the good life.

It’s not a perfect tool, in both its measurement and evidence of effects, plus there are many important things that are difficult to value using this tool – the environment, inequality, fairness, purpose, integrity, to name some – but until wellbeing becomes as central to our decisions as money is now, it will certainly prove very useful for people, businesses, and communities trying to make our world a better place.