Kerala's mortality level has been lower than West Bengal's at least since the early 20th century. The difference became sharper in the 1970s. The wider distribution of health facilities in the rural areas of Kerala and their greater utilisation are found to be significant factors. Historically,...

This paper relates different subjective approaches to wellbeing to different traditions of economic analysis. The dominant formula of ‘Subjective Well-Being’ is attractive because it promises a direct measure of utility, but other approaches bring different strengths to policy evaluation....