Richard J. Estes Professor Of Social Work University Of - Advances in Well-Being: Toward a Better World

Richard J. Estes and M. Joseph Sirgy

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Copyright 2018 by Richard J. Estes and M. Joseph Sirgy

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ISBN:HB 978-1-7866-0346-3

PB 978-1-7866-0347-0

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ISBN 978-1-78660-346-3 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-78660-348-7 (electronic)

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This book is dedicated to Harry and Kay Halloran and to Joseph Tony Carrthree remarkable visionaries who appreciate the rich contributions made by quality-of-life and well-being scholars in helping to improve the world within which we live. Without their investment of resources and time, and their dedication to the promotion of the science of well-being, this book would never have been possible. Together with the Halloran Team, the authors are committed to fostering the science and application of well-being research in bringing about the world we all want.

It has been a passion of mine, as a businessman, to understand that which has been vitally important for human progress. Few forces rival the energy and creativity of the human spirit to achieve betterment, and I for one truly believe that most people possess this desire to improve their human condition and the prospects of their children. Indeed, this life force permeates a vast range of human activity, including our philosophies, our religions, our traditions, and nearly all modes of expression including music and the arts. Moreover, many of us in the business world are driven by the same pursuit of prosperity, coupled with the will to do something good for community and society.

The vision of the Halloran Philanthropies, as set out in 2007, has been to focus on and support social innovation and leadership in various areas including livelihood, health, and education. Yet, for us to do this well, it became clear that we needed a far more substantive understanding of the history of well-being. Where did our human race begin on the grand canvas of human development, and how far have we come?

Our thinking needed to be informed by the fundamental ingredients that have served the achievement of human well-being, namely, the key facets of health, education, and livelihood that serve as the cornerstones for enabling well-being outcomes for the greatest number. This is particularly salient in an era where our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions are largely shaped by media that fail to champion a rigorous analytical lens based on fact and empirics. Together with our esteemed editors, Professors Richard Estes and Joseph Sirgy, we undertook an extremely rigorous research exercise over a period of three years to aggregate the high-quality inputs of quality-of-life experts from all corners of the world. This work culminated in the volume entitled The Pursuit of Human Well-Being: The Untold Global History, published by Springer (Estes & Sirgy, 2017) earlier this year. With Human Development Index (HDI) indicators as a starting point (United Nations Development Programme, 2016), we explored the extensive data that underpin the rich fabric of human experience, uncovering at the same time a complex tapestry that integrates Eastern, Near Eastern, and Western philosophical conceptions of what it means for humans to live well.

We live in an era in which world average per capita income levels have improved by nearly 140 percent since 1990. The worlds developing countries have remained the major drivers of global growth, accounting for about 60 percent of the increases in world gross product between 2016 and 2018. The rate of extreme poverty has been cut in half just since 2000 and is expected to be cut in half again by 2030 in response to the ambitious poverty alleviation priorities embodied in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals initiative. Two billion people lived in extreme poverty in 1981; by 2013, this number declined by more than one billion. Most babies born in 1900 did not live past age fifty, yet life expectancy rose to 71.5 years in 2014, an increase of almost twenty yearsjust since 1960. Everything about the face of humanity on the planet has changed and evolved, mostly for the better. Yet we do not really hear about these tremendous advances nearly as much as we lament the instances of decline, tragedy, or conflict that are outlier events. The confirmation that well-being is improving in all regions of the world is nothing short of a revelation for me that unites all of us by a common force for good and a desire to tread confidently forward on the path of human progress toward the world we all want.

Harry Halloran

Halloran Philanthropies

West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania

When reflecting on the state of the worlds nations and diverse peoples, many readers may visualize images of environmental failures, rapid rates of population growth, recurrent political calamities, as well as a mixture of war, diversity-related social conflict, and even the involuntary movements of large numbers of migrants across national and even international borders. Many of us also visualize the persistence of extreme poverty in a world with plentiful resources, including the poor who live in our own nations and communities. These significant challenges to human well-being are likely to persist despite our collective efforts to rid them from our planet (Brown, 2015; Cameron & Neal, 2002). Once these challenges are resolved, no doubt new challenges will surface that are experienced as equally compelling and, in the worst cases, initially thought to be beyond our reach to solve. But with carefully orchestrated efforts on the part of all the relevant publicprivate stakeholders, they, too, likely will be solved.

Among the many successes that have accrued to humanity since the end of World War II is the realization that a major element in solving the serious problems that confront us is the need to reframe our