gross national hapiness index

[kandrathe]

I tend to tune out Jeff Sachs. His arguments are seldom very convincing to me.

All of the Scandinavian and Benelux countries are really, really rich. Whatever arguments one wants to advance for the causes of happiness, wealth buys almost all of the ones that matter. This is not just true for consumer crap, but also for health, food, shelter, security, and the amelioration of social ills like poverty, crime, and inequality. All of the things we like best, even in the most equal societies, are the product of historically unprecedented levels of income. It's certainly not the whole picture, but it's most of it.

Here is a link to the report.

First, let me make the Beatles "Can't buy me love" argument. Happiness is a squishy hard to measure thing. But, I agree with you on wealth. Wealth is a prerequisite of being able to make changes or "make things" in general. Poverty removes choices, and paralyzes people into a struggle for mere survival. For some, like UAE, and Venezuela, the happiness may be temporary until their source of wealth (oil) is interrupted, or is more subject to the price of that commodity.

As is mentioned in the report I too am swayed by eastern philosophy when it comes to happiness. If you don't set your expectations too high then you won't be disappointed. If you work on removing desires, then you will find yourself to be more content. However, desire and "pain" are key factors for motivating our cultures. On the extreme side, there is no more motivated revolutionary than a father with starving children.

I'm also thinking about Maslow's pyramid.

I believe one of the most important factors for happiness is stability where a person can clearly predict their own future, set goals, and achieve them. The socioeconomic system would matter little, so long as it is broadly acceptable to those living in it and that it is very, very stable. In our time, I feel global happiness is directly tied to the price of energy derived from crude oil. As we bump up against the ceiling of world peak oil production, the gyrations create rapid boom, bust cycles resulting in more global economic upheavals. These upheavals are diverting focus away from the root causes, and making a transition away from oil more difficult. I'm uncertain if we will make it.

In general, if you look at the table 2.3, it is easy to see the differences in stability and wealth between the top 20, and the bottom 20 nations.

It doesn't take too many fingers to poke some holes in the report. I would point to things like national suicide rates for example. I would take some issue with the "comparability" argument. Homeowners are all equally unhappy when the bank comes to foreclose. Throughout the recorded history of humanity there has always been someone with more. The poor person is unhappy because they don't have a house, and the rich person is unhappy that they need to clean 5 bathrooms (so they hire help, and are unhappy because they now have to manage other peoples work). I often say to my wife, "The more you own, the more you need to maintain". Ergo, I try to live simply.

It is interesting, but I feel that happiness is just too squishy to comparably measure.