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Kapteyn: 1980, ‘The poverty line: A pilot survey in Europe’, Review of Economics and Statistics 63, pp. 461–465. : 1996, ‘Happy life expectancy: a comprehensive measure of quality-of-life in nations’, Social Indicators Research 39, pp. 1–58. : 1997, ‘Progrès dans la compréhension du bonheur’ (Advances in the understanding of happiness), Revue Québécoise de psychologie 18, pp. 29– 47. : 1998, ‘Vergelijken van geluk in landen’ (Comparing happiness across nations) Sociale Wetenschappen 41, pp. 58–84.

Is disarmament more important than global warming or international trade? Is inflation more important than unemployment or the budget deficit? The important questions must be detailed along general rather than substantial lines. I take the important questions to be the three most general questions for any rational actor: (1) How is the situation, (2) How ought it to be, and (3) What should be done? These questions are important in that they are always there implicitly or explicitly whenever there is decision-making and whatever the substantive issue.

What People Want. When deciding on goals, policy makers meet time and again with the problem that the political process does not always reflect public preferences adequately. Representatives sometimes fail to pick up latent concerns and vested interests often keep appealing issues from the political agenda. 1 These indicators are subjective in both substance and measurement. This kind of research is common practice in all developed democracies. What People Need. Policymakers also operate in a more technocrat way and try to grasp what people really need.