BRAINPOoL (Bringing alternative indicators into policy) is an EU-funded project aimed at identifying and overcoming the barriers to ‘Beyond GDP’ indicators being used in policy.

1. How to move Beyond-GDP?
from
Defining meta-questions on use
to
Working with barriers for influence
Géraldine THIRY
Tom BAULER
Université Libre de Bruxelles - BE
International knowledge brokerage workshop
October 28-29, 2013, Venice (IT)

2. From a contextual perspective
• Recently, much is officially said about renewing
indicators of wealth:
– Stiglitz, Sen, Fitoussi (2010)
– OECD (2011)
– CEC-COM (2009)
 ‘technically’, but also a recurrent question w/r to
indicators and their role as policy-tools
• Relatively few studies, explorations, analyses which
focus on the link between B-GDP indicators and…
– how indicators percolate in decisional and political spheres
– how indicators are anchored in decisional processes

3. From a definitional perspective
• B-GDP indicators define themselves via the
objective, use, meaning… that is projected or made
of them, and not solely by their content:
– “B-GDP are those indicators that have been proposed as
necessary and central to the measurement of societal
progress, other than those – such as GDP and
unemployment rate – that are already playing this role”
Brainpool’s WP1-report
• Brokerage activities on B-GDP - bring B-GDP into
policy - relate thus also to studying and working with
issues of “use”, i.e. representations, facts,
anecdotes…

4. Simon Kuznets’ legacy

5. Our double objective
• Better understand demand/non-demand and the
policy debates around
• empirical analyses and their interpretation
• in many policy contexts and at different levels
• with a diversity of indicators
• Co-identify and discuss the levers and barriers to
the creation, institutionalisation, assessment of BGDP
– case studies with actors
– in many policy contexts and at different levels
– with a diversity of indicators

6. How to move Beyond-GDP?
On understanding “use”
Géraldine THIRY
Université Libre de Bruxelles - BE
International knowledge brokerage workshop
October 28-29, 2013, Venice (IT)

7. Structure
- Context
- Evolution of governance systems : why are indicators a
societal and political issue?
- Empirical exploration of the “use” of B-GDP
- At the European levels: an issue of scale(s)
- As perceived by Actors: an issue of confusion and of
legitimate expertise
- Framing our workshop discussions

8. Structure
- Context
- Evolution of governance systems : why are indicators
a societal and political issue?

9. Evolution of governance
• In the current western governance systems, indicators
have become the functional and political articulations of
a new mode of governmentality (Ogien 2010, Salais
2011)
• Functional : indicators are indispensable to the
comparison of quantified performances
• Political : indicators are new support of a political
legitimation register
9

10. Evolution of governance
• Quantifying is not only « measuring », it is first and
foremost « convening » of what has to be measured
• Because Quantifying = convening + measuring,…
• Indicators are a political issue : toward a governance of
expertise?
– towards a redefinition of the boundaries between « scientific »
and « citizen-based », between technocratic and democratic
10

11. Structure
- Empirical exploration of the “use” of B-GDP
- At the European levels: an issue of scale(s)
- As perceived by actors: an issue of confusion and of
legitimate expertise

12. Structure
- At the European levels: an issue of scale(s)

13. European levels
• Overall results stress the existence of a
chronological structure influenced by the
emergence of a series of concepts underlying the
subsequent measurement efforts…
• …accompanied by the emergence of a series of
new actors…
• …expressing needs to develop new scales of
measurements

14. Conceptual Complexity
European levels : concepts
Political
ecology
Social
indicators
Growth
’50
’70
Sustainable
development
Wealth
Prosperity
Degrowth
Human Development
’90
Well Being
Green growth
Happiness
Quality of life
Welfare
Environmental impacts
Ecological transition
2010
 Over time, increased conceptual complexity

15. European levels : actors
• A complex system of actors where debate is also
revolving…
• …without citizens…
• …on how to integrate bottom-up perspectives
•  overall a very imprecise demand regarding BGDP (including a very imprecise understanding and
knowledge of B-GDP)

16. European levels : scales
• Local scale initiatives are also referring to global
initiatives of indicator critique and indicator
developments
– top-down percolation of conceptual necessity
• Difficult transmission of achievements of local
initiatives to national/supranational levels
– imprecise bottom-up percolation of hands-on
achievements
•  Compare the incomparable ?

17. Structure
- As perceived by actors: an issue of confusion and of
legitimate expertise

18. Actors’ Perceptions
• Confusions and divergences operating on 2 levels:
– on concepts and indicators
– on societal models

19. Actors’ Perceptions
• Confusions and divergences operating on 2 levels:
– on concepts and indicators
• Perception: Flaws of GDP are misperceived
• Knowledge: Alternatives to GDP are relatively unknown
• Conceptual underpinning: Well-being and sustainability :
what meaning? what quantification?

20. Actors’ Perceptions
• Confusions and divergences operating on 2 levels:
– on societal models
• Inductive: GDP-based growth model remains dominant
• Prescriptive: Alternative models are discredited
• Ambiguous effects of the economic/environmental crises
• Doubts on the survival of the B-GDP movement

21. Actors’ Perceptions
• Apparent gap between discourses and practices
involves democratic risks at 2 levels:
– Well-being and competitiveness
– Difficulties to give effective weight to participation

22. Actors’ Perceptions
• Apparent gap between discourses and practices
involves democratic risks at 2 levels:
– Well-being and competitiveness
• w/r to participatory approaches, pragmatism seems to
imply conservatism

23. Actors’ Perceptions
• Apparent gap between discourses and practices
involves democratic risks at 2 levels:
– Difficulties to give effective weight to participation
• Credibility of the institution vs. intrinsic quality of
methodology
• How to combine effective (local) participation with
(global) comparability?

24. Structure
- Framing our workshop discussions

25. Discussion and framework
• From the discussion of these results flows a certain
framework of thought w/r to B-GDP indicators
– B-GDP indicators are multi-concept
– B-GDP indicators are multi-actor
– B-GDP indicators are multi-scale
– B-GDP indicators are multi-task
– B-GDP indicators are multi-vision