The main goal of this dissertation is to explore alternative economic indicators to GDP. The paper also analyses whether GDP is able to capture the development of a society's welfare, and whether different indicators can show other results about the development of national economy. After an introductory description of GDP, the paper outlines the core limits of this indicator. Following this is a discussion of happiness economics and Easterlin's paradox. The paper then goes on to explore the subject of alternative indicators in more detail. In the final chapter, five selected alternative indicators are analyzed, and compared with GDP using the USA's economy as an example. In conclusion, the paper evaluates the usefulness of these alternative indicators and finds that alternative indicators give a different perspective on national economy than GDP.

Les recherches récentes portant sur les indicateurs alternatifs suggèrent la nécessité d'une révision fondamentale de la manière de concevoir le processus de construction des indicateurs et s'inscrivent dans un mouvement critique vis-à-vis du primat d'une forme de rationalisation économiciste et expertale dans le champ des politiques publiques. Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le champ de ces travaux et a pour objet d'apprécier la manière dont il est possible que ces indicateurs soient porteurs d'une « alternative » en termes de rationalisation de l'action.Pour apprécier les transformations opérées au sein du processus de quantification, la thèse prend pour objet l'expérimentation menée à Grenoble quant à la construction d'Indicateurs de Bien-Etre Soutenable Territorialisés (IBEST). La première partie du travail, d'ordre théorique, établit un lien entre la dimension conventionnelle des indicateurs, leur caractère performatif, la rationalité postulée des acteurs et la rationalisation des politiques publiques. Elle est complétée par une analyse de la dimension axiologique des critères de choix sociaux (bien-être, soutenabilité) axée sur les théories du développement qui peuvent appuyer la construction de tels indicateurs. La seconde partie s'attèle à l'analyse de l'expérimentation IBEST au regard du cadre conventionnaliste et met en exergue qu'un tel processus d'élaboration d'indicateurs induit des transformations aussi bien en ce qui concerne la dimension axiologique présidant à la construction des indicateurs que sur le plan de la rationalisation scientifique et politique. Suivant une logique pragmatique de la recherche-action, nous mettons en avant la plus-value de l'articulation entre une logique d'enquête et une démarche participative au regard du processus d'opérationnalisation d'indicateurs de bien-être soutenable. Au final, outre les apports méthodologiques et cognitifs liés à l'hybridation opérée entre la méthode quantitative et la méthode participative, la contribution de la recherche réside dans l'éclairage que l'expérimentation apporte sur la conception de la dynamique institutionnelle. En effet, le type de montée en généralité particulière associé à la démarche participative et plus largement le processus non linéaire de quantification d'IBEST appuient la pertinence des concepts d' « arrière-plan » et de « communautés interprétatives » pour apprécier le type de dynamique à l'œuvre dans une telle expérimentation et pour la mise en cohérence des notions de légitimité et d' « encastrement institutionnel ». Nous aboutissons ainsi à une conception de la dynamique institutionnelle qui procède par sédimentation et découle d'une transformation des conceptions et des pratiques d'acteurs dans le champ scientifique et politique. / Recent research on alternative indicators suggest the need for a fundamental review of the development process of indicators and is also in line with a general movement criticizing an economistic and expert-centered form of rationalization in the field of public policy. This thesis develops on this work and aims to assess how it is possible that these indicators hold an "alternative" in terms of rationalization of action.To appreciate the changes within the quantification process, the thesis focuses on an experiment conducted in Grenoble on the construction of sustainable territorial social indicators (IBEST). The first part of the work is theoretical. It establishes a link between the conventional form of indicators, their performative nature, the postulate of the actor's rationality and the rationalization of public policies. It is supplemented by an analysis of the axiological dimension of social choice criteria (well-being, sustainability) based on theories of development that can support the construction of such indicators. The second part provides an analysis of the IBEST experiment through the prism of the conventionalist theoretical framework. It underlines that processes of indicators' development such as the IBEST experiment induce transformations both in regard to the axiological dimension governing the construction of indicators and in terms of scientific and political rationalization. By applying the pragmatic logic of action research, we highlight the added value of articulating a logical investigation and a participatory approach in relation to the operationalization's process of sustainable well-being indicators. To conclude, in addition to the methodological and cognitive contributions related to the hybridization between a quantitative method and a participatory approach, the contribution of this research lies in the light the experimentation sheds on the understanding of institutional dynamics. Indeed, the generalization associated to participatory approaches and, on a broader level, the non-linear quantification process implemented in the IBEST experiment supports the relevance of the concepts of "background" and "interpretive communities" when it comes to assessing the dynamics at work in such experimentations and to make coherents the notions of legitimacy and "institutional embeddedness". This thesis leads to a conception of the institutional dynamics which proceeds by sedimentation and results from a transformation of the approaches and practices of actors in the science and political fields.

Demographic aging by standard and alternative indicators in selected countries of Europe and their regional differentiation at NUTS2 level Abstract Demographic aging is often called a phenomenon of the 21st century. However, it is a natural process, which we more or less consciously influence. Population aging is the result of improving the health status of the population and enhancing the quality of human life that has already begun in the 18th century in the context of demographic revolution. The current concern about the sustainability of national social systems in the context of population aging are obviously reasonable, but these concerns are based on the standard characteristics of the age structure, which often use a fixed age of entry into the final stage of life. However, with the lengthening of human life the natural boundaries of old age changes. Alternative indicators on the basis of the concept of prospective age do not use the number of years a person has already lived, but on the number of years that a person will probably live. Paper compares the development of standard and alternative indicators in the Czech Republic, Sweden and Germany in the years 2000-2013 and focuses also on regional differentiation at the NUTS2 level of selected regions in northern, western, eastern and southern...