Preface

The themes of this volume are particularly important to me as my own academic work has focused on how to both conceptualize quality of life theoretically and how to measure it empirically. This examination of life quality in the United States conducted over the last decade has left me with two distinct impressions. First, that questions of life quality are important, and exploring how to improve it should be studied. Second, despite that importance it remains understudied in its complex form and our understanding remains somewhat limited. The authors of the chapters in this volume represent a collection of professionals interested in these questions and each is working to advance both our theoretical as well our practical understanding of what improves life quality.

Questions of how to improve life quality, wellbeing, and standard of living have been and remain among the most important questions addressed by social scientists, policymakers, and innovators. These questions, which are core to the human experience, have been studied, discussed, and debated for hundreds of years. The results of these studies and debates have had mixed results in improving the human condition. Throughout this volume a diverse and eclectic set of authors explore these same debates and identify a variety of mechanisms, theoretical approaches, and policy interventions relevant to this larger question of how to improve the human condition.

Despite the varying results that can be observed, the overall trend, especially in the last 75 years, has been toward improved life quality, greater wellbeing, and increased standards of living across most of the world. The evidence of this trend is clear. In 1950, the life expectancy for the worldwide population stood at around 45 years old. As of 2019, the life expectancy gradually increased to 72 years old. Over these 70 years, life expectancy grew by a whopping 27 years. As time passes, life expectancy generally increases, but time alone is not responsible for this development in human longevity. Numerous scientific, economic, technological, social, policy, and environmental factors played into this 27-year increase and contributed to an overall improvement in wellbeing (OurWorldInData.org).

Life in the 1950s was drastically different from life today as pivotal advancements and innovations transpired in the following years. In the United States at that time, various medical advances, such as the introduction of the amoxicillin antibiotic, had not yet occurred; vehicles emitted a large amount of significant pollutants in the air, including lead with little concern to the problems they might create; and the civil rights of minority groups were often not recognized. Now, amoxicillin and numerous successor drugs treat bacterial infections and medical advances in other areas have improved life expectancy and life quality substantially [1]. Car manufacturers have dramatically reduced emissions and are launching hybrid and electric cars that pollute even less. Human rights of individuals are better protected than at any other time in human history and continue to improve. These improvements and a myriad of others have dramatically and substantially improved life quality, standard of living, and wellbeing worldwide. Throughout this volume the authors provide details on how this occurred and under what circumstances this improvement is most likely.

The questions they and other economists and public policy experts continuously ask are how did we get here? What factors influence the progress of humankind? How do we measure the relative levels of the quality of life?

Taken as a whole, this volume provides a window into what influences the quality of life, why people live longer and are relatively better off compared to decades ago. Improvements in life quality are shown by looking at the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, housing and food accessibility, level of happiness, suicide rates, political stability, income inequality measurements, literacy rates, fertility rates, economic freedom indexes, and much more. While the potential ways of measuring life quality are abundant, understanding what causes improvement requires careful study and consideration.

This volume provides useful insight into these challenges and helps to highlight a clear and important separation between wellbeing and standard of living, both relevant to assessing the quality of life. The standard of living refers to the material welfare of a group, including income, access to housing, food, and services. These factors tend to be measured empirically and have been shown to clearly enhance the condition of individuals regardless of personal preferences. Wellbeing, on the other hand, encapsulates harder-to-measure subjective preferences, such as social relationships, overall happiness, emotional health, and capacity to achieve goals. Combined, both components help us to understand the quality of life of certain groups at specific times, and in specific communities.

The chapters included in this volume further reveal that while wellbeing and standard of living are different, they inevitably interact with each other. This symbiotic relationship reveals that we cannot have one without the other. For instance, access to education is important for individuals to achieve their goals. Without the knowledge to read, write, or understand mathematics, people are severely limited in their future plans and careers. At the same time an individual's level of happiness or emotional health can impact their ability to work and in turn, alter the local economy. These factors rely on each other to collectively improve a group's quality of life.

Throughout this volume, our authors place the consideration of cultural and local idiosyncrasies at the front of their discussion, which ultimately provides a holistic understanding of the quality of life and its relation to the standard of living and human wellbeing. Community development captures the role that local coordination and focused government investment play in the betterment of life for these communities. One chapter discusses hunger and food inaccessibility in the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries. The community collaborated on local arrangements, ancestral knowledge, and the use of natural resources to address the food plight. Through their local and communal knowledge, they were able to consider these factors and discover meaningful improvements. This could not have been done without the existing social relationships within the communities.

This chapter, as well as the others in this volume, demonstrate that community development involves two concepts necessary to improving quality of life: local knowledge and exchange. F.A. Hayek demonstrates that knowledge, spread throughout a group of people, can be more useful than the knowledge of a single expert. He asserts,

**V**

can be worthless.

But a little reflection will show that there is beyond question a body of very important but unorganized knowledge which cannot possibly be called scientific in the sense of knowledge of general rules: the knowledge of the particular circumstances of time and place. It is with respect to this that practically every individual has some advantage over all others because he possesses unique information of which beneficial use might be made, but of which use can be made only if the decisions depending on

People within a certain location, time, or community are accustomed to the social relationships and cultural makeup of a community. They know how to achieve

While unique and decentralized information is an essential attribute of community development, this information must be exchanged and shared for economic progress. If individuals in the car industry did not meet and exchange ideas, we might not have arrived at the results we enjoy today. In The Rational Optimist, Matt Ridley explained

"...there was a point in human pre-history when big-brained, cultural, learning people for the first time began to exchange things with each other, and that once they started doing so, culture suddenly became cumulative, and the great headlong

That exchange is essential is made clear throughout the chapters of this volume, as one individual alone cannot harbor all relevant knowledge for the human enterprise. However, if the information is spread across several people, sharing their ideas becomes the impetus for new developments. Participants within the exchange can mutually gain from each other as they can obtain new knowledge or products from other specialized individuals. Moreover, as their knowledge becomes more specialized, they delve deeper into the economic and social

problems and thereby can find better solutions. This specialization, collaboration, and exchange are crucial for bringing together meaningful innovations and

As one explores these chapters, I suggest the reader consider how local knowledge and exchange are essential to improved wellbeing, higher standards of living, and burgeoning community development, especially within the scope of developing countries. The book's focus on these countries provides a unique insight into how such different communities can grow. It is easy for experts from developed countries to intervene and assert their expert opinions, but knowing the culture, institutions, and behaviors of these communities is a colossal obstacle. Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom observed, "It is ordinary persons and citizens who craft and sustain the workability of the institutions of everyday life" [4]. The local people have a vested interest in seeing their lives improve. Without fully understanding the true essence of these countries or having personal incentives, the experts' insights

The ideas of local knowledge and exchange should shape how we see human progress. These concepts provide the framework for how wellbeing, the standard of living, and quality of life flourish. Without unique knowledge and exchange,

it are left to him or are made with his active cooperation [2].

experiment of human economic 'progress' began [3]."

we would not be able to enjoy all the luxuries of life today.

success for the community.

the importance of exchange:

advancements.

But a little reflection will show that there is beyond question a body of very important but unorganized knowledge which cannot possibly be called scientific in the sense of knowledge of general rules: the knowledge of the particular circumstances of time and place. It is with respect to this that practically every individual has some advantage over all others because he possesses unique information of which beneficial use might be made, but of which use can be made only if the decisions depending on it are left to him or are made with his active cooperation [2].

People within a certain location, time, or community are accustomed to the social relationships and cultural makeup of a community. They know how to achieve success for the community.

While unique and decentralized information is an essential attribute of community development, this information must be exchanged and shared for economic progress. If individuals in the car industry did not meet and exchange ideas, we might not have arrived at the results we enjoy today. In The Rational Optimist, Matt Ridley explained the importance of exchange:

"...there was a point in human pre-history when big-brained, cultural, learning people for the first time began to exchange things with each other, and that once they started doing so, culture suddenly became cumulative, and the great headlong experiment of human economic 'progress' began [3]."

That exchange is essential is made clear throughout the chapters of this volume, as one individual alone cannot harbor all relevant knowledge for the human enterprise. However, if the information is spread across several people, sharing their ideas becomes the impetus for new developments. Participants within the exchange can mutually gain from each other as they can obtain new knowledge or products from other specialized individuals. Moreover, as their knowledge becomes more specialized, they delve deeper into the economic and social problems and thereby can find better solutions. This specialization, collaboration, and exchange are crucial for bringing together meaningful innovations and advancements.

The ideas of local knowledge and exchange should shape how we see human progress. These concepts provide the framework for how wellbeing, the standard of living, and quality of life flourish. Without unique knowledge and exchange, we would not be able to enjoy all the luxuries of life today.

As one explores these chapters, I suggest the reader consider how local knowledge and exchange are essential to improved wellbeing, higher standards of living, and burgeoning community development, especially within the scope of developing countries. The book's focus on these countries provides a unique insight into how such different communities can grow. It is easy for experts from developed countries to intervene and assert their expert opinions, but knowing the culture, institutions, and behaviors of these communities is a colossal obstacle. Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom observed, "It is ordinary persons and citizens who craft and sustain the workability of the institutions of everyday life" [4]. The local people have a vested interest in seeing their lives improve. Without fully understanding the true essence of these countries or having personal incentives, the experts' insights can be worthless.

Ultimately, human cooperation is a fundamental part of human flourishing, and the authors included in this volume provide powerful examples of that reality. Through their examination of different places, circumstances, and political and economic realities, they broaden both our theoretical and practical understanding of how life quality improves, and provide a framework for future work addressing these same and continually important questions.

> **Ryan Merlin Yonk** American Institute for Economic Research, Great Barrington, USA

> > **VII**

**References**

life-expectancy'

[1] Roser, Max, Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban, & Ritchie, Hannah. 2013. Life Expectancy. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/

[2] Hayek, Friedrich A. 1945. The Use of Knowledge in Society. *The American Economic Review,* 35(4), pp. 519-530.

[3] Ridley, Matt. 2010. *The Rational Optimist.* HarperCollins Publishers.

[4] Ostrom, Elinor. 1998. A Behavioral Approach to the Rational Choice Theory of Collective Action: Presidential Address, American Political Science Association, 1997. *The American Political* 

*Science Review*, 92(1), pp. 1-22.
