Comparing Equitable and Sustainable Well-being (BES) across the Italian provinces. A factor analysis-based approach

This paper applies the factor analysis to reduce the huge number of variables included in each of the 11 domains that constitute the Equitable and Sustainable Well-being (BES) of the Italian provinces. Using this method, we extract the minimum number of indicators able to summarize the relationship within the wellbeing dimensions. Based on these results, for each domain and for each Italian province, we construct a composite indicator that is a linear combination of the estimated factor scores, with weights based on the Gini index of concentration. In particular, we associate smaller weights to those factors that exhibit a more homogeneous distribution across the provinces, while greater weights will be associated with those factors that are more concentrated in few geographical areas.