Two papers accepted for presentation at ISQOLS 2026 (Lexington, Kentucky, USA)

I have been notified by the organizers of the 24th Annual Conference of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS 2026), with the theme «Beyond the Bluegrass: Harnessing Research to Enhance Quality of life», that my papers «Alternative HDI thresholds for maximum income demonstrate significance for policy advice» and «Climate imaginaries and the contested future of economic growth» have been accepted for oral presentation. The conference will take place at University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky (USA), August 11–14th.

#1,5

Today I have had half an article writing day, with some 200 words added to the article "Når gode råd er plagsomme" (When good advice is bothersome) which I co-write with Svein Tuastad. Moreover, I looked into a revised version of a Live Better article manuscript. Finally; I prepared and submitted the manuscript "Kan velferd og miljø måles i forlengelsen av BNP?", which I have co-written with Jan Karlstrøm, to Samfunn og økonomi.

This brings the number of writing days so far this Spring up to 1,5.

#32,5

Today I have had an article writing day, with work done on the article "Kan velferd og miljø måles i forlengelsen av BNP?" which I co-write with Jan Karlstrøm. The article has now been submitted to Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning.

So far this Autumn I have had 32,5 writing days including 14,5 article writing days.

Paper on GDP and alternative measures presented at ISQOLS 2024 in Malaysia

Yesterday I presented the paper “Can welfare and environmental concerns be measured in extension of GDP?” (see abstract posted earlier) on behalf of Jan Karlstrøm and myself at the 22nd conference of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS), which was held in Kota Kinabula, on Borneo, in Malaysia, June 26 to 28th. The paper was part of Session 23C, “Beyond GDP: New Understandings and Measures of Progress”. Some 45 people attended the session.

Photo: Sabah International Convention Centre, the ISQOLS 2024 venue.

#45

Today I have had an article writing day, #45 this Spring, with some work done on revising the article "Kan velferd og miljø måles i forlengelsen av BNP?" (Can welfare and the environment be measured in extension of GDP?) which I am co-writing with Jan Karlstrøm. 

See also:

Article "What Arne Næss can teach us about the interdisciplinary nature of economics" published; mention in editorial

Paper "Can welfare and environmental concerns be measured in extension of GDP?" scheduled for presentation June 28th at ISQOLS 2024

The paper "Can welfare and environmental concerns be measured in extension of GDP?", developed by Jan Karlstrøm and me, has been scheduled for oral presentation at ISQOLS 2024, the 22nd annual conference of International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS), which is to be held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, June 25-28th. Our paper will be presented on Friday June 28th at 15.30, as part of session 23C "Beyond GDP: New Understandings and Measures of Progress".

#35,5

Today I have had an article writing day with some 500 words added to my encyclopedia chapter "Ecological semiotics" and discussions of feedback and further work on the GDP review article which I co-write with Jan Karlstrøm.

#27

Today I have had an article writing day, writing day #27 this Spring, with work done on various writing projects, including:

Doing some searching and thinking about possible journal for the GDP review article I co-write with Jan Karlstrøm

Confirming that I will write a second chapter on the work of Henrik Steffens, and coming up with the work-title "Steffens´ early outlook reconsidered: Nature conceptions of the industrial-age Anthropocene", and composing/extracting some 200 words in the process

Looking through some suggestions concerning the article on Arne Næss and economics which I co-write with Jan Karlstrøm and Thomas Hylland Eriksen

Proof-reading my chapter "A Biosemiotic Perspective on the Human Condition and the Environmental Crisis" for the book Elemental-Embodied Thinking for a New Era.

Choosing a work-title for the first follow-up to my article "Wasted GDP in the USA", namely "Wasted GDP in major economies: With time series data", and starting on a manuscript file

 See also:

Second Steffens chapter invited and planned for

"Kan velferd og miljø måles i forlengelsen av BNP?" rejected by Samfunnsøkonomen

A few days ago, our article "Kan velferd og miljø måles i forlengelsen av BNP?" was rejected by Samfunnsøkonomen.

"Wasted GDP in the USA" reached 10.000 Article accesses

My article "Wasted GDP in the USA", published last October, has now reached 10.000 Article accesses. This is the quickest any of my articles have reached that many reads.

Paper "Can welfare and environmental concerns be measured in extension of GDP?" accepted for presentation at ISQOLS 2024

I have been notified by the organizers of ISQOLS 2024 that the paper "Can welfare and environmental concerns be measured in extension of GDP?", prepared by Jan Karlstrøm and myself, has been accepted for oral presentation at the conference, which will take place in Malaysia June 25-28th. I still have to figure out whether I can get my participation funded.

Abstract for ISQOLS 2024: "Can welfare and environmental concerns be measured in extension of GDP?"

I have just submitted the abstract below to the organizers of the 2024 conference of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS), which will be held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, June 24-28th.

***

Can welfare and environmental concerns be measured in extension of GDP?  

Morten Tønnessen, Professor of Philosophy, Department of Social Sciences, University of Stavanger 

Jan Karlstrøm, Research assistant, Department of Social Sciences, University of Stavanger  

What the purpose of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is as a measure of economic activity has been debated ever since the term was launched and adopted in the 1930s. In this paper we go through the history of the concept of GDP, the criticism GDP has been met with, and proposed alternatives to GDP. Originally, GDP was constructed based on a need for more overview and a better basis for planned government management of the economy during the Depression and the Second World War. In the post-war period, GDP growth became a central political goal in and of itself. Even though from the very beginning it has been pointed out that GDP is not intended as a measure of welfare, GDP growth has constantly been associated with welfare development. Modern criticism of GDP as a measure of the state of the economy and social development has largely addressed the fact that GDP is poorly suited as a measure of welfare and that the target of GDP growth is unfortunate given the environmental consequences of increasing production and consumption. Several alternative measures of welfare development and environmental concerns have been launched, but none of them have succeeded in becoming as central as GDP. The new measure that has gained the most traction, namely the UN's Human Development Index, has incorporated GDP rather than replaced GDP. We look at alternatives for measuring welfare, alternatives that address environmental concerns, and alternatives that address both welfare and environmental concerns and evaluate these critically.

#33,5; article "Kan velferd og miljø måles i forlengelsen av BNP?" submitted to Samfunnsøkonomen

Over the last three days I have altogether conducted half a writing day, with some work done on my contribution to Encyclopedia of Ecology, updates received concerning the book Mars and the Earthlings and, indirectly, my book project Captured. Today I finally finished editing the article "Kan velferd og miljø måles i forlengelsen av BNP" (Can welfare and environment be measured in extension of GDP?), which I have co-written with Jan Karlstrøm, and which I just submitted to the Norwegian academic journal Samfunnsøkonomen.

The number of completed writing days this Autumn is now 33,5.

#33

Today I have had the 33rd writing day this Autumn, with some 1.100 words added to our GDP review article and a couple of thousand words deleted, and the article finished.

#32

Today I have had half a writing day, with some 200 words added to our GDP review article. The accumulated number of writing days so far this Autumn is now 32.

#31,5

Today I have had what ended up as half a writing day, bringing the Autumn´s total up to 31,5, with some work done on my book manuscript Captured and our GDP review article, and some 100 words written altogether.

#30,5

Today I have had half a writing day, #30,5 this Autumn, with some work done on the GDP review article I co-write with Jan Karlstrøm, and in preparation of the chapter "Ecological semiotics" which I co-write with Søren Nors Nielsen for Encyclopedia of Ecology.

#30

Today I have had a writing day, #30 this Autumn, devoted to finishing - soon - the GDP review article I co-write with Jan Karlstrøm, and some 200 words added to the text. Getting close to the finish line now.

#29

Today I have had half a writing day devoted to the GDP review article I co-write, with some 50 words added to the text. The accumulated number of writing days this Autumn is now 29.

#27

Today I have had half a writing day devoted to the GDP review article I co-write with Jan Karlstrøm with some 100 words added. I also had a few ideas as to defining wasted growth. Number of writing days this Autumn is up to 27.