The index of sustainable economic welfare (ISEW) for a local authority: A case study in Italy

Abstract

The Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) has been calculated for many countries, but rarely at the local level. This paper shows how the index has been calculated for the Province of Siena, Central Italy. The whole procedure is illustrated step by step, including the search for the most suitable and precise methods to obtain reliable values for each item composing the index. Application of ISEW at a very local level was found to be feasible. The most general difficulty encountered was the lack of an adequate institutionalised source of statistical information to support the construction of indicators other than purely economic or demographic ones. The availability of data depends on the interest in implementing projects of sustainable management of natural resources and land on the part of local authorities and their consequent willingness to invest money and human resources on such projects. The ISEW is a good tool for local environmental policy, because it gives a more realistic representation of the well-being of the population than GDP, since it includes environmental and social items not considered in conventional national accounting. Furthermore, in Italy, the principle of administrative decentralization has been implemented in recent years to such an extent that the central government devolved part of its power to Regions, Provinces and Municipalities. Arguably, local authorities should therefore allocate more resources to pursue their policies towards sustainability, an issue which modern electoral campaigns are often based on. The results for the Province of Siena show that there is a large gap between local GDP and ISEW (about 37% of GDP).

Integrating and ranking sustainability criteria for housing

“…Improvement of the local labor markets highlights the importance of recruiting a range of local laborers (e.g., construction workers, engineers, managers, and janitors) over the different stages of the building lifecycle. Local authorities should encourage the involvement of citizens, local institutions, and private companies and promote thinking globally but acting locally (Pulselli et al, 2006). Finally, consideration should be given to business opportunities for local suppliers, contractors, and consultants as this will improve economic development locally.…”

Time series analysis of the ISEW at the local (regional) level: method and intent

“…ISTAT publishes annual data on working and non-working population, and the price per hour is based on previous studies [4]. …”

“…The main works that have been taken as reference points are the ISEW calculations for USA [2], for Italy [5] and for the local level [4].…”

“…The local (regional or provincial) level often represents the optimal dimension for implementing policies, especially in certain fields. This is mainly due to a major attention paid by local institutions for peculiar problems and to the administrative decentralization [4]. For this reasons, the ISEW has been calculated at the local level, in order to give local authorities a further instrument for taking political decisions consistently with sustainable viewpoint.…”

Regional sustainability assessment and its sensitivity analysis based on ecological footprint model: A case study of Xingguo County in China

“…There have been some valuable evaluation methods and models, such as the Pressure State Response (PSR) framework model proposed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) (Yang et al, 2011;Babcicky, 2013), and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (Gil and Sleszynski, 2003;Lawn, 2003;Clarke et al, 2005;Pulselli et al, 2006;Bleys, 2008Bleys, , 2013. The "Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare" is applied to Poland, Belgium, Thailand, Italy and other countries (Gil and Sleszynski, 2003;Clarke et al, 2005;Pulselli et al, 2006;Bleys, 2013). Regional sustainable development must depend on sustainable development of ecological environment.…”