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 well- being 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.