1887

OECD Economics Department Working Papers

Working papers from the Economics Department of the OECD that cover the full range of the Department’s work including the economic situation, policy analysis and projections; fiscal policy, public expenditure and taxation; and structural issues including ageing, growth and productivity, migration, environment, human capital, housing, trade and investment, labour markets, regulatory reform, competition, health, and other issues.

The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries.

English, French

Improving the well-being of Canadians

For many years now, a growing number of economists, policy makers, and civil society groups have pointed to the limits of using only GDP as the primary measure of national economic progress. Accordingly, a progressively greater focus has been placed on the concept of well-being and its optimal measurement, as well as its appropriate use in budgeting and other aspects of policymaking. Canada has had a long history of measuring subjective well-being and a good pre-COVID 19 record on many of its determinants but has not yet decided on an official government-wide framework. This chapter delves into the topic and then looks at some of its crucial aspects, in particular: inequality and poverty including food insecurity; housing affordability and homelessness; physical and mental health and long-term care, with a special focus on Pharmacare; and environmental conditions. It includes a special section on the problems facing Indigenous peoples and those belonging to racialise.

English

Keywords: health care, homelessness, child care, poverty, Indigenous People, income inequality,, housing, long-term care, well-being, guaranteed income
JEL: D6: Microeconomics / Welfare Economics; I1: Health, Education, and Welfare / Health; E2: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics / Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy; I3: Health, Education, and Welfare / Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty; O51: Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth / Economywide Country Studies / Economywide Country Studies: U.S.; Canada; I2: Health, Education, and Welfare / Education and Research Institutions; D3: Microeconomics / Distribution
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