The social welfare function (SWF) framework includes a well-being measure w(∙), for converting outcomes into vectors (lists) of well-being numbers.These well-being numbers are interpersonally comparable.This chapter discusses the construction of the well-being measure.It supposes that w(∙) operates on individual “histories,” a history being a combination of an attribute bundle a and a preference R.That is w(∙) = w(a, R).This setup is quite general.It encompasses preference-based well-being measures (namely those that assign well-being numbers to histories containing different bundles but the same preference in deference to that preference), as well as non-preference based measures.The chapter covers both, although mainly focusing on the former.Here, two approaches are discussed: the “equivalence approach,” whereby an individual’s well-being hinges on her attributes and her ordinal preference; and the “vNM approach,” which uses lottery preferences rather than ordinal preferences.

GDP is the most influential indicator in the world. It is published all over the world and there is a powerful logistical infrastructure (the "GDP multinational") which involves national statistical offices, international institutes, policy researchers, academics, media and society. Yet GDP is not a good measure of sustainability or well-being and this is why hundreds of alternatives have been proposed in the last decades. This "Beyond-GDP cottage industry" is expanding all the time but there is no sign that it is going to threaten the dominance of GDP anytime soon. Replacing GDP by 2030 provides a strategy to overcome this situation by 2030 and Chapter 1 provides an outline of the arguments made in the book.

The history of Beyond-GDP is far more complex than the history of GDP because it is hard to define the boundaries of this field. Some fields have a long history: the measurement of Subjective Well-being (SWB) started just after the Second World War and Green Accounting emerged in the early 1970s. This chapter shows that there are basically four types of methodologies. Up to the early 1990s, the majority were green accounting or SWB indexes (conceptual indexes). After the publication of the Brundtland Report and subsequent Earth Summits, the other three types (composite indicators, and conceptual and non-conceptual indicator sets) also became popular. With the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, the situation became even more dynamic. The chapter shows that Beyond-GDP is a highly heterogeneous community without the powerful features of the GDP multinational. It is a community without a common language and is therefore incapable of communicating with each other or the rest of society. The only positive exception is the System of Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA), which provides the accounting framework and indicators for environmental macroeconomics.