Excerpt from the Abstract :

"In the last decade, a number of national governments have embarked on a largely unnoticed, but revolutionary OECD-driven endeavor: to fix national alternative measures of well-being “beyond GDP”, to decide in a participatory manner which indicators matter to people and to discuss which new or adapted notion of progress is valid in the 21st century. This paper will highlight a number of these national cases and analyze the context in which these initiatives evolved. It will be shown that although revolutionary in their aspirations, many initiatives do not live up to their expectations. This has to do with the manner in which they were executed, with the political unwillingness to really consider alternatives to GDP and to allow broad participation. But it might also show that the expectations regarding the power of indicators to guide policies might be exaggerated."

Historical Social Research 44 (2): 288-312. doi: 10.12759/hsr.44.2019.2.288-312.