Characterizing demand for 'Beyond GDP'.: BRAINPOoL deliverable 2.1 (original) (raw)

2013

Abstract

The aim of the BRAINPOoL project is to experiment with the enhancement of the development and the effective use of indicators that can balance the use of GDP so as to support the sustainable development policy process in the EU. In this report, we attempt to better characterize the demand for Beyond-GDP indicators, the institutional determinants of the uptake of new indicators, as well as the perceptions and actions of actors in that regard.The objective of this report is threefold: 1) identifying the differentiations of demand for Beyond-GDP indicators across different target groups of users from various institutional and societal levels; 2) characterizing the specificities of the demand for Beyond-GDP indicators when compared to mainstream policy indicators; 3) categorizing the different factors explaining the demand for Beyond-GDP indicators. Two complementary research tasks provided the backbone to the empirical exploration of these research questions in WP2. Task 2.1 consisted of characterising the institutional contexts of Beyond-GDP indicators in specific EU-member countries, as well as at the level of selected international/European organizations. The aim was to configure and compare with some precision the policy agendas that have built up around the development and promotion of Beyond-GDP indicators across different EU-member countries. Task 2.2 aimed to investigate the perceptions of the existence, strengths and weaknesses of the Beyond-GDP agenda. This was developed by engaging directly with a series of policy actors. First, via a series of face-to-face interviews conducted with selected policy actors which are directly and explicitly linked to the Beyond GDP agenda. Second, through the organization of a set of “Road shows” (i.e. in-house workshops) with a small group policy actors in a selection of EU-member countries. The aim with these workshops was to reach policy actors who are currently not confronted with or directly concerned by the Beyond-GDP policy agenda and to explore their perceptions of the agenda itself. The results of our analyses are organized along, first, an analysis of the institutional settings, second, an analysis of the actors’ perceptions on the demand for ‘beyond GDP’. The understanding of the institutional contexts in each entity we observed, were compared to reveal any structuring trends, discern the main initiatives and actors, and provide background knowledge of drivers and barriers for the indicators’ uptake.The objectives of analysing the perception of actors of the demand are twofold: 1) to better characterize the types of demands for indicators; 2) to identify the factors enhancing or hindering the uptake of B-GDP indicators. Our analyses show three major barriers to the uptake of new indicators : 1)the diversity of practices and conceptions about Beyond-GDP indicators; 2) the difficult combination of scales in the settlement of new indicators; and 3) a democratic issue of participation. To be cited as : Thiry, G., T. Bauler, L.Sebastien, S. Paris and V. Lacroix, Characterizing demand for 'Beyond GDP'. Final version of BRAINPOoL deliverable 2.1, A collaborative project funded by the European Commission under the FP7 programme (Contract no. 283024). ULB, Brussels, 15 April 2013.

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