Economics Nobel Laureates Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz have been handpicked by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to advise France on the way in which it calculates its growth, news reports said.

France has been planning to include factors like 'quality of life' into the measurement of its economic growth, instead of going by the traditional methods of calculating gross national product, ever since Sarkozy assumed power.

Sarkozy's election promises included freeing up the economy and introducing more reforms so as to provide better living standards for the French.

Amartya Sen will be an advisor the French government, while American Joseph Stiglitz will be chairman of the committee of experts appointed to oversee the reform process.

Although the quality of life in France is said to be very good, the rate of the nation's economic growth has remained stagnant for some time now.

Sen won the Nobel Prize in 1998 for work on developing economies and well-being in India. Stiglitz won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2001. He was World Bank vice president and chairman of the council of economic advisors under President Bill Clinton. Currently, he teaches at the Columbia University in New York.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy (left) and Amartya Sen. Photographs: AFP / Getty Images