We present a survey-based method – the Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) – that can be used to estimate preference-based weights and curvature parameters for a multidimensional wellbeing index.
These parameters determine the implicit trade-offs between the dimensions of an index. We demonstrate the method for estimating the parameters of a generalized Human Development Index, and we present tests of the data quality.
We survey 1022 respondents and ask them to compare pairs of life situations and state the life situation that they prefer.
We show that it is possible to implement the same study design across four countries with different levels of development.
We find that the assumption of equal weights is rejected in all subsamples and the current assumption about the curvature parameter can be rejected in all subsamples, but the Belgian one.

Download

I am an Associate Professor (ZAPBOF) at the Herman Deleeck centre for Social Policy of the University of Antwerp. My research focuses on the measurement of (multidimensional) inequality, poverty, and well-being with a special focus on the incorporation of individual preferences and the role of social policies. I am also a part-time Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at KULeuven and a Research Fellow at the LSE (CPNSS) and U.C.Louvain (CORE). Since 2016, I am the Country Team Leader of SHARE-Flanders. I am an Associate Editor of the Journal of Economic Inequality since 2019 and a Member of the Editorial Board of the Review of Income and Wealth since 2018.