The term Quality of Life
is used by politicians and economists to measure broader social effects of policies, such as the effect that reducing graffiti or vandalism might have on the wellbeing of local residents.
Two widely known measures of a country's liveability are the Economist Intelligence Unit's quality of life index and the Mercer Quality of Living Survey. Both measures calculate the liveability of countries around the world through a combination of subjective life-satisfaction surveys and objective determinants of quality of life such as divorce rates, safety, and infrastructure. Such measures relate more broadly to the population of a city, state, or country, not to the individual level.
According to Costanza: "Quality of Life (QOL) has long been an explicit or implicit policy goal, adequate definition and measurement have been elusive. Diverse objective and subjective indicators across a range of disciplines and scales, and recent work on subjective well-being (SWB) surveys the psychology of happiness have spurred renewed interest"
[1].
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QUALITY OF LIFE TICKETS
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Quality of life crimes
Some crimes against property (e.g., graffiti and vandalism) and some "
victimless crimes" have been referred to as "quality-of-life crimes." American
sociologist James Q. Wilson encapsulated this argument as the
Broken Window Theory, which asserts that relatively minor problems left unattended (such as public urination by
homeless individuals, open alcohol containers and public
alcohol consumption) send a
subliminal message that disorder in general is being tolerated, and as a result, more serious crimes will end up being committed (the analogy being that a broken window left unrepaired shows an image of general dilapidation). Wilson's theories have been expounded by many prominent American
mayors, most notably
Oscar Goodman in
Las Vegas,
Richard Riordan in
Los Angeles,
Rudolph Giuliani in
New York City and
Gavin Newsom in
San Francisco. Their cities have instituted so-called
zero tolerance policies, i.e., that do not tolerate even minor crimes, in order to improve the quality of life of local residents.
The Popsicle Index
The Popsicle Index is a quality of life measurement coined by
Catherine Austin Fitts as the percentage of people in a community who believe that a child in their community can safely leave their home, walk to the nearest possible location to buy a
popsicle, and walk home.
[2] [3] [4]
See also
- Bhutan - a country that uses "Gross National Happiness" as a primary measure of success
- Education Index
- Genuine Progress Indicator - A proposed alternative to GDP