El buen y mal vivir del bienestar/desarrollo en Alemania y Ecuador. Reflexiones a partir del análisis del tiempo

The framework of analysis for “buen vivir” (good living) requires new metrics that fit this theoretical perspective and its social mandates. Following Ramírez’s conceptual-methodological proposal (2012, 2019), it will be argued that studying “good living” implies analyzing the distribution and concentration of time well lived (tBV). To demonstrate the applicability and fruitfulness of this approach, a statistical comparison of the concentration of tBV between Germany and Ecuador is performed. This analysis yields three results: 1) At the macro level, the country with the higher level of development presents higher levels of tBV; 2) At the micro level, in Ecuador, the higher the level of income, the more tBV its citizens enjoy. In Germany, the opposite is true; 3) The composition of tBV varies between the two countries. Ecuadorians devote twice as much time to sociability as Germans.