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Contents 1 Improvement drive 2 VOTE!! - HDI in Infobox#Countries|country infobox/template? 3 Economic/Utility Theory View 4 Quality of life, cost per QALY 5 Quality of Life, as opposed to a Movie that happens to have the name "Quality of Life" 6 Proposed merge 7 Opening sentence

[edit] Improvement drive

A related topic, Grameen Bank, has been nominated on Wikipedia:This week's improvement drive. Contribute your expertise and vote for Grameen Bank on Wikipedia:This week's improvement drive!--Fenice 06:46, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] VOTE!! - HDI in Infobox#Countries|country infobox/template?

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a standard UN measure/rank of how developed a country is or is not. It is a composite index based on GDP per capita (PPP), literacy, life expectancy, and school enrollment. However, as it is a composite index/rank, some may challenge its usefulness or applicability as information.

Thus, the following question is put to a vote:

Should any, some, or all of the following be included in the Wikipedia Infobox#Countries|country infobox/template:

(1) Human Development Index (HDI) for applicable countries, with year;

(2) Rank of country’s HDI;

(3) Category of country’s HDI (high, medium, or low)?

YES / NO / UNDECIDED/ABSTAIN - vote here

Thanks!

E Pluribus Anthony 01:52, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Economic/Utility Theory View

An economist would suggest that quality of life is not derived from a raw numerical value of earnings, but rather the happiness (often refered to as utility) that it creates. Because it is impossible to compare utilities directly, dollars are generally used as the common medium.

New Ideas from Dead Economists (Todd Buchholz) cites a prime example in sayting that, "Baseball great Willie Mays used to say that he would play for free." While this isn't literally true -- he would need enough to survive day to day -- it means that most of what he earns (even if it were only tens of thousands) is improving his utility. The same, common theme can be used to compare a teacher to a trash collector.

The teacher does not only gain the value of their wage, but also the satisfaction of their work. If a teacher would happily teach for $5/h, even a $10/h wage represents $5/h above the value which they demand for their lost time. By contrast, a trash collector might be unwilling to do their job for any less then $20/h. Despite half the wage, a utility theorist would recognize that the teacher had a higher quality of life then the trash collector because they are being compensated more then the perceived value of their time.

The same issue could be addressed from the demand side. If two people purchase the same item (a book for examle) for $10, they don't necessarily received the same value from that item. If one were willing to pay no more then $10 and the other were willing to pay $60, the latter would gain $50 in value through the transaction. An addicted bookworm could, on a very tight salary, generate a higher personal utility then someone who realizes little value above the dollars spent on their purchases.

Obviously, this represents an over-simplification of the issue, but it notes that the actual quality of life needs to be based on the additional value we receive *from* the activities we do (both work and play) and not just dollars which are transacted.

[edit] Quality of life, cost per QALY

The sentance "for example a cancer treatment which costs $10.23 and on adverage gives the patient 2 extra years of full health costs $500000 per QALY" makes no sense to me. It seens to me it would cost $5.12 per QALY. Please clarify. Thank you, Cindy AndersonCindy Anderson 17:08, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree this is clearly incorrect and needs amendment. Stewart Brock.

[edit] Quality of Life, as opposed to a Movie that happens to have the name "Quality of Life"

I really don't believe that something as important as the quality of life should take a back seat to the name of a movie called "Quality of Life." This seems absurd. I move that the title of an article called "Quality of Life" should be about the quality of life, and that a movie that happens to call itself "Quality of Life" should be represented in a disambiguation page. Instead, we have the opposite, and I feel that it's quite ridiculous. Whoever heard of this movie, anyway??? Runt (talk) 02:45, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed merge

I see a tag for a proposed merge into Quality-of-life index. I would oppose this merge. Quality of life is a widely referred to subject, but that index is only one measure of quality of life. If anything, the merge should be the other way around. Personally though, I think the articles should be kept separate. Cazort (talk) 22:09, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

I feel the same way; this article clearly refers to the idea in general, while the other article refers to a specific (and not the only) measure. What would make far more sense to me than a merge either way would be a section in this article that links to various quality of life quantifications, such as the Quality-of-life Index and any others that exist. --173.74.41.58 (talk) 14:35, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Agree oppose merge, an index is smaller than the broader topic. I'm going to try and cut through a few Gordian knots here...--PaulWicks (talk) 22:15, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Opening sentence

This is the opening sentence now:

The term Quality of Life used by politicians and economists to measure broader social effects of policies, such as the effect that reducing graffiti or vandalism might have on the wellbeing of local residents.

I was going to just put in an "is" before "used" so it would be a sentence and leave it at that. Was it purposely phrased this way, or a typo? It seems like a weak opening in general. A "term" doesn't "measure", and besides, there is a quote just below it that says that measuring is elusive. Any ideas how to improve this? Springatlast (talk) 04:30, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

The opening is not good. A better definition is needed. And graffiti has got little to do with quality of life. For some, like me, graffiti can add to the quality of life. Graffiti gives me interesting visual impressions that makes the day better. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.215.176.164 (talk) 19:47, 4 October 2009 (UTC)