If the EU is going to emerge as a United States of Europe in the long run then it would be non-sensical to allow separate currencies to remain. But the real issue is whether that vision commands sufficiently wide support.
Question 1: Do you agree that subjective well-being measures, or at least some of the subindices from the typical survey measures, are now reliable enough to give useful insights when used in macroeconomic empirical analysis?
Give useful insights "yes", determine the answer "no". Anyone who looks at these issues could learn a lot from Angus Deaton's Hicks Lecture first: http://scholar.princeton.edu/deaton/publications/financial-crisis-and-well-being-americans
Question 2: Do you agree that quantitative well-being analysis should play an important role in guiding policy makers in determining macroeconomic policies?
There is a case of using a range of data to evaluate policies but not one to the detriment/neglect of others and we need to use the data intelligently and cautiously. It is a case of discretion not rules in this case. Also happiness and well-being are not the same thing as the passage above seems to suggest. Moreover, let's not pretend that there is any single metric that trumps all others. We need to be pluralistic which, in many ways would be a break from the past. Amartya Sen has been arguing for a plural "capability approach" for years and I still think that his framework is the most persuasive overarching intellectual framework in the area.
The CFM surveys informs the public about the views held by prominent economists based in Europe on important macroeconomic and public policy questions. Some surveys focus specifically on the UK economy (as the CFM is a UK research centre), but surveys can in principle focus on any macroeconomic question for any region. The surveys shed light on the extent to which there is agreement or disagreement among these experts. An important motivation for the survey is to give a more comprehensive overview of the beliefs held by economists and in particular to include the views of those economists whose opinions are not frequently heard in public debates.
Questions mainly focus on macroeconomic and public policy topics. Although there are some questions that focus specifically on the UK economy, the setup of the survey is much broader and considers questions related to other countries/regions and also considers questions not tied to a specific economy.
The surveys are done in collaboration with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
Juncker's State of the Union Address
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Question 1; Do you agree that euro membership should be compulsory for all EU member states?
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Happiness and well-being as objectives of macro policy
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Question 1: Do you agree that subjective well-being measures, or at least some of the subindices from the typical survey measures, are now reliable enough to give useful insights when used in macroeconomic empirical analysis?
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Question 2: Do you agree that quantitative well-being analysis should play an important role in guiding policy makers in determining macroeconomic policies?
Are academic economists ‘in touch’ with voters and politicians?
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Question 7: Voters did not know that there was near-unanimity among economists.
Do you agree that this was an important reason for a majority of UK voters going against the near unanimous advice of the economics profession?
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Question 6: Economists did not explain the reasons for this consensus in sufficiently clear language.
Do you agree this was an important reason for a majority of UK voters going against the near unanimous advice of the economics profession?
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