French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested totally changing the way the world views the prosperity of countries. He suggested that aspects such as health care availability, leisure time, prison population, well-being and happiness, and environmental and financial sustainability. The new measure would replace GDP, which, according to Sarkozy, is tied to the competitiveness that caused the collapse of the global financial system. What do you think?
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Hi,
Sorry for my english but I’m French.
These ideas are not new. UNO use human developping index with education and health.
Furthermore, the Stiglitz speak about well-being, not happiness. This is, well-being represents objective data and happiness represents subjective data. Happiness is a subjective state. Always increasing all is not everytime the solution.
I’m happiness economist. American (and English, Autralian…) can read many books in English about that. See Ed Diener for example. If you read french, there is my book “bonheur et économie. Le capitalisme est-il soluble dans la recherche du bonheur?”
Thanks,
Renaud Gaucher.
The idea has its merits, especially with health care availability, and financial and environmental sustainability aspects. How to define those in a way that truly means something could be tricky. In any event, completely taking GDP out of the equation is a non-starter if the ‘standard’ is to be widely accepted.
Craig Haggit
From time to time world leaders always speak about new prosperity among people all around the world,but I think they will be difficult to understand about poverty as long as they see the problem just in paper. The fact poverty has take every people liberty abd life and it is running every second. Poverty is not only in material aspect, but also in mental and spiritual aspects.
Recently I tray to build through my to participate in social care avout poverty.
From time to time world leaders always speak about new prosperity among people all around the world,but I think they will be difficult to understand about poverty as long as they see the problem just in paper. The fact poverty has take every people liberty abd life and it is running every second. Poverty is not only in material aspect, but also in mental and spiritual aspects.
Recently I try to build a through to participate in social care about poverty.
See the Genuine Progress Indicator website,
http://www.rprogress.org/sustainability_indicators/genuine_progress_indicator.htm
Also, the Index of Social Health,
http://iisp.vassar.edu/ish.html