A canonical quality of life model

A five equation model was developed which related measurements of quality of life (QOL) to policy variables and to economic and social characteristics. The model was used to i) determine the jointness, or interdependency, of components of QOL, ii) demonstrate the usefulness of canonical correlation for measuring the marginal products of determinants of QOL, and iii) construct QOL indexes of social indicators. The model's parameters were estimated from state data for the U.S.A. Among the determinants of QOL educational attainment, investments in transportation facilities, region size and urbanization were most important. Expenditures on higher education, health care, and law enforcement had very little effect on socio-economic well being. Most of the differences in QOL between states were due to economic factors.