How do you measure Community Quality of Life? Not the GDP!

How do you measure the quality of life for a community? a province? a country? As I start to explore this question, I realize its important start with the basics. What’s being used to typically being used to measure quality of life, what are the drawbacks, what are the alternatives.

Currently the most commonly used measurement is the GDP. ‘GDP’ is term that we hear a lot in the news and from our politicians and they typically use it to refer to the state of the economy. So what is the GDP then? 

What is the GDP?

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is used as a measure of economy, growth and progress; being used as a proxy for standard of living and quality of life. However, as soon as you start to explore the GDP, you come across concerns around its use, especially its role as an overarching indicator of well-being. The GDP only measures economic aspects of society; and even then the GDP only captures economic activity based primarily on spending and does not include the cost side of the balance sheet. Other important social and environmental factors are not included in the GDP either. One common formula for calculating GDP is:   

GDP = private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports) 

(wikipedia) 

While there are numerous arguments for and against the GDP as an economic indicator, there are two general concerns to be considered when using it as a quality of life indicator at a community or country level:  (1) the GDP only measures economic activities and not economic costs and (2) the GDP does not measure any social or environmental aspects. 

GDP Economic Shortcomings

On the economic front, the GDP only includes spending and expenditures in its calculation and does not differentiate between what the spending is for, including negative societal expenses such as prisons, or health out-breaks and natural disasters . Natural disasters are an example of how the GDP approach is not an accurate reflection of the economy as all costs associated with a natural disaster are included in the GDP calculation as government spending or consumption. The cost of the 2011 flood in Manitoba is now being estimated to be over $800 million and the GDP calculation for Manitoba will include the $800 million burden of this disaster as a positive for the Manitoba economy. 

GDP Quality of life gaps

Another main concern surrounding the GDP is its use as a proxy or indicator for how well a country or population is performing. Without including measurements of social and environmental aspects, the GDP is not an effective measure of quality of life or standard of living, although it is often treated as such. The overall health of society and the environment are not factored into the equation, meaning that even if spending and economic activity is focused on addressing negative aspects of society such as pollution, crime or disease, it is considered to be a positive impact on the economy and therefore society. As result, when the GDP is used as an indicator of success and quality of life, it ranks countries that consume and spend the most at the top of list regardless of the impacts of that consumption or the state of their society or surroundings. 

Canada’s health care future is tied to GDP

Canada’s federal government has just announced that future (after the year 2016) health transfers from the federal government to the provinces will be tied to GDP increases. It is not clear how this will actually reflect the health needs or realities in each province and this transfer tie between health and GDP is another example of how the GDP is over-used as a proxy for quality of life and doesn't necessarily reflect the well-being of a society. While most news articles around this subject are focusing on the $ amount of transfers and the % change, a more important question needs to be asked about why are is the government of Canada tying health transfers to GDP rather than to more specific health data or more comprehensive societal indices. 

If not the GDP then what? 

So if the GDP is not the best measure of well-being, what should be used. How are countries or communities supposed to assess their quality of life? There are several measurement indices that have been developed to help fill the gaps surrounding the GDP including:

• Human Development Index
• Genuine Progress Index
• Gross National Happiness 
• OECD Better Lives Dashboard

Each of these measurement tools/indices provide a more comprehensive assessment of quality of life and well-being. Some of these tools have already been adopted by countries and even communities. Understanding what each of these assessments offer and how they are applied is an important part of deciding how to measure quality of life at a community level. 

Canada's Broadband Slide

10 years without change

In 2001, Canada was considered a global leader in Internet connectivity, ranking third in broadband penetration (high-speed Internet access of at least 1.5Mbps) and leading most of the developed world in that area. At this time, 85% of Canadians were able to access high-speed Internet at 1.5 Mbps and Canada had the third highest number of broadband subscribers per capita in the world at 11.1 subscribers per 100. The pace of this adoption was also leading internationally with 100% growth in subscribers every year from 199 to 2001. A national task force on broadband recommended that 1.5 Mbps broadband be universally available to Canadians by 2004. 

Ten years later, Canada is no longer a world leader in broadband penetration, ranking 13th globally in broadband subscribers, a drop of 10 positions in 10 years. Seven years after the recommended target for Canada to have universal broadband accessibility (2004), the number of homes with broadband availability has finally hit 95%.  The table below compares Canada's broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants to the leading OECD country on a yearly basis. 

Leading OECD Country       Canada                   

Source: http://www.oecd.org/document/54/0,3746,en_2649_34225_38690102_1_1_1_1,00.html#Penetration 

In 2001, Canada’s 1.5 Mbps standard for broadband access was comparable to the other global leaders, unfortunately, Canada still uses that 1.5 Mbps target for availability 10 years later. While the speed of Internet available in Canada has increased over the past decade, it has not kept pace with the other global leaders in Internet. When comparing the average advertised rate of available broadband, Canada ranks 22nd internationally, below the OECD average. Over the last decade, other global leaders have seen more than a 50 fold improvement in the speed of their broadband, resulting in average offered speeds over 50 Mbps and even up to 80 Mbps. Canada on the other hand, has increased broadband speed from 1.5 Mbps on average to 20 Mbps on average, a substantially smaller increase than other leading countries.

Overall, Canada’s role in broadband has been reduced from leading the world in Internet access and quality to lagging behind numerous countries and there is a risk that Canada’s global position in broadband will continue to slide. Examining national broadband plans, the OECD identified that Canada is one of only a few OECD countries without specific broadband targets and timeframes. Canada is currently revisiting national broadband planning through its ‘Building a World Class Digital Infrastructure’ process. Hopefully these efforts will help drive Canada to reposition itself once again as a global leader in broadband adoption and growth, returning to where we were 10 years ago.  

OECD National Broadband Plans:

 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5kg9sr5fmqwd-en 

International Telecommunication Union: Case of Canada Report:

 http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/ni/promotebroadband/casestudies/canada.pdf 

National Broadband Task Force Report:

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/vwapj/C2-574-2001E.pdf/$FILE/C2-574-2001E.pdf

ITU Digital Access Index: 

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/dai/

CRTC Monitoring Report 2010

http://www.crtc.gc.ca 

The Internet and Community Development

How important is the Internet? In 15 years or so of mainstream use, the Internet has been a game changer for society. Simultaneously reducing geographic boundaries, increasing universal access to  knowledge and connecting people around the world instantly, the Internet has changed how we work, learn, play and communicate. It has also changed the face of local development and decision-making. 

Businesses and organizations, including communities are constantly trying to harness the latest Internet trend, as each evolution completely reshaped the playing field, from static websites and our emails in the mid 1990's to Facebook and twitter today. 20 years ago people used telephones and printed materials as their primary source of communication and information - today emails and digital content are the norm. 5 years ago most of us were just learning about social networking - today it has become a dominant source of news, entertainment and of course socializing. To put the growth and importance of social networking in context, Facebook, the top social network, now has more than 750 million users, more than 10% of the world's population (Wikipedia). 

In terms of community development, computers and the Internet have become the buildings and highways of the new economy. Access to the Internet has become an essential tool shaping how people work and live, and community development is no exception. Accessing information, communicating with partners, finding funding grants and proposals, interacting with community members are all essential ways in which the Internet is used in community development. More important however, is the extent to which Internet access has become fully integrated into our lives. 

For many of us, the Internet had become something we can't live without either at work, school or at home. For most of us, geographic barriers are gone, news and events are followed in real time, knowledge is available at our finger tips. Experts are beginning to use terms such as dependency and addiction when referring to the extent that the Internet has become integrated into our lives, or most of our lives. Many people, especially in the younger generations, cannot imagine living in a home or community without access to the Internet. 

The speed in which the Internet has reshaped our lives is impressive, and the importance of having quality access to the Internet cannot be understated. Ensuring quality access to the Internet and engaging residents through social media should be pillars of any community's development plan. This is especially true for rural Canada, where many people struggle to find decent and affordable Internet access. Further exploration into the levels of Internet access for rural communities would be an important contribution to the community and rural development field. 

Making informed decisions in an information society

Knowledge-based economy, information age, internet-era. These are all descriptions of our current society emphasizing the importance and abundance of knowledge. With the role of knowledge and information in our society reaching new heights, its time that we make more decisions that are informed and information-based. While the importance of informed and knowledgeable decisions applies in virtually all parts of our lives, community development and decision-making is a good place to start.

At a time when knowledge work and workers have overtaken the service and manufacturing sectors (Florida), when strangers are collectively creating free encyclopedias online, and events around the world are being documented and shared instantly, it's time to more effectively harness and apply this culture of knowledge and collaboration to improve our communities. Local decision-makers and community developers work hard to make the best decisions and create the most effective and appropriate development projects that they can. Their efforts can be hampered however, by the simple absence of information or due to the difficulty of using information that is available.

It's important to distinguish between expertise-based knowledge, knowing how to build a pedestrian bridge for example, versus more general knowledge and information. While it requires specialized engineering knowledge to know how to build a pedestrian bridge, community residents are the best source of knowledge for informing the look and feel of that bridge and for identifying who would use the bridge most often. It is necessary for all people involved to understand and appreciate the importance of both types of knowledge. While you wouldn't try to create a bridge without an engineer, the voice and input of the community should be considered vital as well. 

Similar to community input and engagement, it is essential to make sure that community level facts and knowledge are available to make the best decisions. Continuing with the bridge example, having access to traffic and transportation information at the local level would be required to make effective decisions when building the bridge. Understanding resident commuting patterns and exercise habits would also be very helpful for decision-makers. It is the integration of all of these forms of knowledge and information that enables local decision makers and development practitioners to make the best decisions and design the most effective projects.

Unfortunately, local knowledge is not always available or taken advantage of. Many community projects suffer from not having the right information or having difficulty in using that data. Community input can be undervalued, community data often doesn't exist, and expertise is typically expensive. These are the challenges facing more informed local decision-making and these are the barriers that we need to address. Local decision-makers and development practitioners are doing great work and helping them to increase the availability of knowledge and information will make their efforts even more effective.

Florida, R. (2002). The Rise of the Creative Class. New York: Basic Books.

What does OWS mean for rural Canada?

The Occupy Wall Street movement has been focusing on the gap between the 99% and the 1% for two months now. As the OWS movement continues, whether we agree with the movement or not, it forces us to look closer at the issue of income inequality and other related issues in our society, including in rural Canada.

Economic and quality of life inequality is an important issue for rural Canada. Canada's economy is based on exporting the country's natural resources, from oil and gas to canola and beef, all of which comes for rural Canada. However, even though rural Canada drives Canada's economy it faces substantial government service challenges in many areas creating a disconnect for rural communities between their role in the economy and their benefit from it. In rural Canada, the division between the 99% and the 1% has a geographic element as well as those rural communities that contribute to the export economy don't usually receive the same quality if life improvements as their urban counterparts. 

Rural Canada is traditionally conservative in nature, supporting conservative governments, along the emphasis on small government philosophy that accompanies them, especially at a federal level. While this general philosophical nature of rural Canada probably helps explain why there are no occupy wall street movements in places like Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, an agricultural and conservative stronghold, it doesn't always align with the best interests of rural communities. One of the major inequalities for rural Canada is the reduction in government services impacting quality of life. Places like Portage la Prairie are always on the front lines to receive cuts in government services in areas like education and health, factors which lead or substantially contribute to rural depopulation and community decline.

As the ows movement continues, it will be very important to better understand the state of income and economic inequality in rural canada and how it impacts both rural communities and Canada's economy. The sustainability of rural Canada and the Canadians living there is affected by the same issues that the ows movement is raising and it is essential that we In rural Canada make sure that these issues receive the attention and answers they deserve.