This paper has attempted to illustrate rather than exhaust the possibilities for
using international well-being data to measure and explain differences in well-being within and among nations. International well-being data permit the combined use
of individual and societal variables. This in turn makes it possible to identify the
consequences of societal or ecological variables, whether they be the consequences
of history, government policy, or community choices. The well-being data themselves
have fairly good claims as measures of individual welfare. Insofar as these claims
are justified, the coefficients can be used to combine what might otherwise be
incommensurable results into an overall welfare assessment of changes in policies
or institutions.