Quality of Life Fosters Mini Renaissances Around Industry and Community Objectives

Business, people, and society exist within an environment and that environment helps define the quality of their lives and influences how they engage in the economy and actively pursue social and business activities. The U.S. Economic Development Administration defines Quality of Life (QOL) as something that, "...creates the conditions for economic growth and improved quality of life by expanding the capacity of individuals, firms, and communities to maximize the use of their talents and skills to support innovation, lower transaction costs, and responsibly produce and trade valuable goods and services."(U.S. Economic Development Administration, Unknown, Para 1).

QOL is a defned economic concept that varies slightly depending on who is using it and for what purpose. For the most part it means the general subjective health and wellness of community members (Estoque, et al. 2019). In the United States we might equate the importance for life quality as the right to Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness as founding principles of the republic and the founding principles of the economy. The encouragement of economic freedom and community development helps support the essentials of a strong economy. This is why you will find economic theory and community quality as related to each other in my writings.

Measurements of Quality of Life

Measuring QOL is possible when we look at objective measures and subjective internal experiences that lead to pro social and pro economic actiities. In any locality one can look at the objective measures and match that with surveys and feedback to further understand these subjective measurements that define the flavor of a community. It is the mix of hard and soft data that helps to understand whether a locality has the foundations for advanced economic development. 

A few QOL indicators may include purchase power/material wellbeing, social relationships, safety, health, community activities, personal development, recreation, pollution, etc. (Burckhardt & Anderson, 2003; Zmuk, 2015). These general concepts are then broken down into specific data points that can be measured within the cluster to consistently monitor performance (i.e. cluster health dashboard). Reviewing the internal and external factors that have an influence on economic growth is fundamental to understanding the bigger picture and making adjustements.

Keep in mind that differnet studies may use different indicators depending on their objectives and what they want to understand. However, there is likely to be some level of continuity as a main environmental quality. Researching which indicators most localities are using does create a benchmark in which we can compare cluster ripeness from a QOL perspective. However, one might need to provide unique assesstment to delve deeper depending on the type of industry(ies) they are seeking to foster. Clusters focused on certain outcomes will have different data needs.

The Importance of Quality of Life

We will have a hard time getting ahead, bringing forward the best and brightest, or developing our human capital if our environments that sprout such talents are weak or poor. History has shown that economic and social development are related and can lead to development spurts (i.e. Renaissances on local or national level). Economic clusters are the creation of environments that help foster mini renaissances around key industry and community objectives. Blight, pollution, poor schools, policing/justice quality, social togetherness, discrimination, etc. impact the world in which we live and people's economic engagement. Human capital is one of the next legs, matched with technology and infrastructure in the nation's development. Without thinking about quality of life we will struggle to find the innovative talent we need to compete. 

Key Points

-QOL can be measured in hard and soft ways.

-QOL takes into account economic and community factors

-People's economic engagement and human capital capacity is based on their environment. 

-When opportunity and quality of life are in alignment we will see stronger economic performance.

-It is possible to create an economic and QOL dashboard to monitor cluster health.

-Clusters can create mini renaissances around key industry and community objecties.

Burckhardt CS, Anderson KL. The Quality of Life Scale (QOLS): reliability, validity, and utilization. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2003 Oct 23;1:60. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-1-60. PMID: 14613562; PMCID: PMC269997.

Estoque RC, Togawa T, Ooba M, Gomi K, Nakamura S, Hijioka Y, Kameyama Y. A review of quality of life (QOL) assessments and indicators: Towards a "QOL-Climate" assessment framework. Ambio. 2019 Jun;48(6):619-638. doi: 10.1007/s13280-018-1090-3. Epub 2018 Sep 11. PMID: 30206898; PMCID: PMC6486941.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6486941/

U.S. Economic Development Administration (Unkown, para 1). Key Definitions. https://www.eda.gov/performance/key-definitions

Quality of Life Indicator Systems–Definitions, Methodologies, Uses, and Public Policy Decision Making https://crp.trb.org/acrpwebresource12/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2021/09/Quality-of-Life.pdf

Žmuk, Berislav. (2015). Quality of life indicators in selected European countries: Statistical hierarchical cluster analysis approach. Croatian Review of Economic, Business and Social Statistics. 1. 42-54. 10.1515/crebss-2016-0004. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291339743_Quality_of_life_indicators_in_selected_European_countries_Statistical_hierarchical_cluster_analysis_approach

Purchasing Power Index

68.70

30.42

44.28

60.86

23.70

146.51

Safety Index

62.73

7.95

12.67

64.05

48.67

74.29

Health Care Index

62.63

12.02

19.19

65.70

35.12

82.58

Consumer Price Index

66.98

23.40

34.94

61.56

34.72

126.03

Property Price to Income Ratio

10.55

3.39

32.18

9.69

5.02

17.38

Traffic Commute Time Index

30.07

5.39

17.91

30.45

18.82

47.08

Pollution Inde