The Economics of Happiness
"Another thing that most people value is a clean environment. Air and water quality are not included in the broadest measure of economic activity emphasized in government statistics, the gross domestic product (GDP), although some economists have worked on ways to do so. But again, rich countries have more resources to devote to maintaining a clean environment and do tend to have better air and water quality than poor and middle-income countries, notwithstanding the fact that rich countries by definition produce more goods and services. Rich countries also generally provide people more leisure time, less physically exhausting and more interesting work, higher education levels, greater ability to travel, and more funding for arts and culture. Again, these linkages, together with the benefits of enjoying a wide variety of goods and services, are the reason that economic policymakers–at the behest of the public–usually put heavy emphasis on job creation and growth. Along with price stability, maximum employment is one of the Congress’s two mandated objectives for the Federal Reserve. And, indeed, economists researching happiness and life satisfaction have found that both inflation and unemployment detract from happiness, consistent with the focus on these macroeconomic conditions in the mandate of the Federal Reserve." (quoted from here: link)
The dishonesty that underlies his attempts to pretend that all is well, thanks to the old paradigm of doing things which has created the current economic hardship of our planet, by implicitly re-stating the monetarist mumbo jumbo of his federal reserve is mind boggling.
The notion of economic growth as we understand it today as enshrined by the GDP measurement of Gross Domestic Product has been invented by the pathological, applauded by the ignorant and continually promoted by the mischievous.
This is a letter of mine just published in a local newspaper to try to add some balance against the indoctrination we have all received as to what the measurement of "growth" and "happiness" consists of:
"I REFER to the insightful commentary, "Hatoyama, a victim of iPad shock" (June 4). The need for new ideas by many countries to make it through the current global economic debacle is inescapable.
The current oil spill fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico thanks to BP's bungling has resurfaced the question: What price economic growth? Measurement of a country's gross domestic product does not take into account whether it is a source of benefit or a cause of damage. The multi-billion-dollar cleanup that will hopefully end the massive oil spill will be added as a "plus" to a country's GDP, in the same way that expenditure on prosecuting a war and cleaning up after traffic accidents are.This is counter-intuitive to common sense, which would suggest "growth" refers to something positive.We need to balance the current GDP ledger with new measures of progress like the GPI (genuine progress indicator), variations of which are used around the world. In essence, only that which is genuinely positive for a society adds to a nation's GPI rating. Anything which is negative, like criminal or harmful environmental practices, detracts from the score.Indicators that capture increased quality of life as a positive under the GPI can then be used as an additional barometer for decision makers on the efficacy of national policies.So, increased time spent by a parent with a child, volunteer work, improved green spaces, better healthcare and implementation of ethics modules in schools and business education - just to name a few examples - would add to a country's GPI.As Singapore progresses, we need accurate tools to capture the growth and development of its various social life cycles, such as its family, health, educational, economic, financial and sports ecosystems. The GPI measurement here would have greater moral weight than simply GDP monetary inputs.This will, in turn, help ensure that as investors come to Singapore, they will have to also adapt to our more streamlined approach towards sustainable and socially-responsible economic development, rather than be driven solely by profit motives.This shift in mindset is crucial for us in developing an even keel in the way we lead our lives and how our society is run."
