Evolution of Wellbeing Theories in the Postulates of Economic Schools and Concepts

The article presents the evolution of wellbeing theories in the postulates of economic schools and concepts. It has been established that the first period of development of economic wellbeing theories was marked by polarized tendencies of market or state domination, which led to the consideration of social wellbeing by economists-theorists in the macroeconomic aspect. It has also been found out that forming the foundation of future scientific research their representatives laid the foundations for methodological understanding and development of many economic theories. The second direction of development of wellbeing theories is based on the imperatives of economic growth (location theories, neoclassical theories, theories of cumulative growth, institutional theories and new theories of regional development). It has been found that the rethinking of approaches to local and regional development at the present stage is associated with the actualization of the theory of endogenous development and the concept of local economic development (place-based theory). It has been found out that along with theories of well-being based on the economic concept, theories that determine the social status of people from the standpoint of their high standard of living and human development are widespread in international research. The third direction of wellbeing theories, related to the search for measures of human development that go beyond GDP, is now formed from an alternative flow of scientific thought in the established scientific direction. The end of the last century was marked by a significant interest in social indicators, outlined in various doctrinal forms: social progress, human development, quality of life, wellbeing in a new sense, as well as increasing attention to the individual and their original organizational groups (family, households, communities), and the definition of their weight in the relationship «state-market». Common expression of these concepts is a person whose view transformed from a purely materialist understanding of their wellbeing to a broader point of view – a person who professes values and is in collective interaction. The present study of the evolution of wellbeing theory indicates the need for the formation and implementation of public policy in the direction of intensifying local development and provision of high quality public services based on the principle of subsidiarity.