MEASURING WELLBEING: A HISTORY OF ITALIAN LIVING STANDARDS.

VECCHI, Giovanni.

ISBN 10: 0199944598 / ISBN 13: 9780199944590

Published by Oxford University Press, New York, 2017

About this Item

8vo. pp xvii, 645. Original publisher's red boards with lettered gilt at the spine. ISBN: 9780199944590 Fine in fine dust jacket. Seller Inventory # C42335

Bibliographic Details

Title: MEASURING WELLBEING: A HISTORY OF ITALIAN ...

Publisher: Oxford University Press, New York

Publication Date: 2017

Binding: Hardcover

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Italy - born as one nation on March 17, 1861 - was a poor and backward country in the most Southern part of Europe. Most Italians lived a short and troubled life, with little prospect of giving their children a better future. That was how it had been for centuries in the Italian peninsula. In one and half centuries, the Italians astonished us by turning Italy into a country where living standards are among the highest in the world. The Dolce Vita found its home in Italy. How did such a transformation come about? The book provides an answer based on an impressive volume of newly-constructed historical statistics, and does so aided by an easilyt accessible and enjoyable narrative.

In more than 20 years of research, Giovanni Vecchi has gathered tens of thousands of family accounts, so that the themes of economic inequality, poverty and vulnerability can at last be placed at the centre of the book. This history is written from the bottom up, starting with the elementary data, those coming from the lives of individuals and households. Measuring Wellbeing builds up the "macro" picture (the history) from the "micro" data (the stories).

The concept of wellbeing is, by its very nature, multidimensional and must therefore include the non-monetary aspects of life: nutrition, health and education, but also less tangible elements such as freedom or the possibility to exercise one's political rights. The book deals with this polyhedral nature of wellbeing using a uniform method. Great effort has been taken not to exercise the reader with technical details, but tables and graphs have nevertheless been included because they are decisive tools for readers to gain insight and keep up their guard against the fallacy of what at first sight may seem to be incontrovertible.

About the Author:

Giovanni Vecchi is a Professor of Economics at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata". He specializes in the theory, measurement and history of welfare, as well as economic history. His scholarly articles have appeared in a number of international, peer-reviewed journals. He is a regular consultant to the World Bank on issues related to the measurement of poverty and inequality. He is President of the Italian Economic History Association (Associazione per la Storia Economica) and co-editor of the Rivista di Storia Economica.