Unemployment, job insecurity, and inflation are major economic factors that contribute to stress and anxiety among the population, often reflected in reported levels of ill-being. This study examined how these adverse economic conditions impact ill-being across European countries from 2005 to 2019. The aim was to identify nations that manage to minimize ill-being despite facing significant negative economic events. To do this, we applied a benchmarking method called data envelopment analysis (DEA). While DEA is commonly used to study well-being, it is not typically suited to analyze ill-being. For this reason, we are the first to apply a variant of this method, known as anti-efficiency or pessimistic DEA, in the context of well-being research. Our findings show that Nordic countries are particularly effective in mitigating the impact of economic challenges on ill-being. Furthermore, we observe that countries with efficient public administration systems tend to better manage ill-being.
Policy implications
- Shift from a well-being paradigm to a proactive ill-being focus by developing early warning systems that monitor stressors before they escalate into ill-being.
-
Strengthen capacity building and efficiency in horizontal accountability within state institutions that oversee government by:
- Promoting access to information,
- Encouraging scrutiny of officials,
- Ensuring accountability for misconduct—particularly within the legislature, judiciary, and oversight agencies (such as ombudsmen, prosecutors, and comptroller generals).
This can be achieved by fostering collaboration with front-runner countries through initiatives like the European Technical Support Instrument (TSI 2026) – PACE (Public Administration Cooperation Exchange).
- Enhance citizens' policy literacy regarding horizontal accountability to encourage more frequent and effective use of these institutions.
- Ensure adequate consideration of input and feedback from civil society and other stakeholders after consultations to foster trust in European and national policymaking and amplify outcomes.
- Use anti-efficiency DEA as a tool to identify countries where stressors indicate the need for special policy attention.
Photo by Mustafa Al-Falahi