Economics of Happiness

Is our government making us happier?

• How many Americans are taking antidepressants or using alcohol or other forms of addictions as a way to cope with the pressures of the current socioeconomic system? Is the number declining or on the rise?

• How many people do you know whose lifestyle is causing severe pressures on their psychological, emotional and relationship health?

• How many people do you know suffer from chronic workplace stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, or some form of depression?

• Are the rates of divorce, crime and lawsuits declining or on the rise?

A) Government

The role of government should shift from managing economic growth to socioeconomic development. American public policy should shift its focus from:

• The standard of living to the quality of life
• Material possessions to well-being (physical, mental, and material)
• Unsustainable economic development to sustainable environmental development
• Consumerism to investment
• Economic-driven education to socioeconomic-driven education

Government can also make substantial improvements by implementing the following recommendations:

• Simplify people’s lives through reformed civil laws and taxes.
• Establish new tax and budget policies in line with public mental, emotional and physical wellness goals. For example, provide funding for the promotion of positive psychology and cultural education in schools, workplaces and public media.
• Shift policy priority from waging wars - a major source of socioeconomic stress and long-term liability - to local socioeconomic development and foreign collaboration.

It is important to note that the success or failure of any new initiative is dependent on the sponsorship of the power centers within the socioeconomic system. The public must drive Congress to provide additional reforms to ensure honest representation by elected officials and by instituting controls on the abuse of power such as the promotion of private interests on the expense of public good which is a major source of socioeconomic stress.

B) Economics

In 1972, Bhutan's King Jigme Wangchuck coined the term Gross National Happiness (GNH) to emphasize the holistic values of economic development policies. While there has been no independent study to validate the success of Bhutan’s national policies, Wangchuck correctly asserts that economic growth does not necessarily lead to contentment. His government instead focuses on the four pillars of Gross National Happiness: economic self-reliance, a pristine environment, the promotion of culture, and good governance in the form of a democracy. Regardless of the King’s future success in formulating and executing his national policies, the concept remains a new and innovative way to look at modern socioeconomic development.

According to Nadia Mustapha’s article in Time magazine dated January 10, 2005, "The independent London-based think tank New Economics Foundation (NEF) is pushing for the implementation of a set of national well-being accounts that would tote up life satisfaction and personal development, as well as issues such as trust and engagement. The accounts would also include liabilities, such as stress and depression. In 2002, the Strategy Unit, an internal government think tank that reports to Prime Minister Tony Blair, conducted a seminar on life satisfaction and its public policy implications." Germany, Italy and France are also considering such studies.

There is a need for a new integrated qualitative and quantitative approach, as opposed to current subjective measures, to assist in the creation of a new socioeconomic development metric to measure and monitor the development of the nation's most important asset - its people.

A second generation GNH concept, treating happiness as a socioeconomic development metric, is proposed by International Institute of Management. IIM proposes to call it Gross National Wellness (GNW) or second generation Gross National Happiness (GNH). The metric measures socioeconomic development by tracking 7 development area including the nation's mental and emotional health. GNH/GNW value is proposed to be an index function of the total average per capita of the following measures:

1. Economic Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of economic metrics such as consumer debt, average income to consumer price index ratio and income distribution

2. Environmental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of environmental metrics such as pollution, noise and traffic

3. Physical Wellness: Indicated via statistical measurement of physical health metrics such as severe illnesses, overweight, etc.

4. Mental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of mental health metrics such as usage of antidepressants and rise or decline of psychotherapy patients

5. Workplace Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of labor metrics such as jobless claims, job change, workplace complaints and lawsuits

6. Social Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of social metrics such as discrimination, safety ,divorce rates, complaints of domestic conflicts and family lawsuits, public lawsuits, crime rates

7. Political Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of political metrics such as the quality of local democracy, individual freedom, and foreign conflicts.

The above 7 metrics were incorporated into the first Global GNH Survey

While the proposed new GNW or GNH metric may not be all-inclusive or provide a perfect measure, the consideration of the above parameters is a good start when creating a new metric for the measurement of socioeconomic development and policy management.

C) Work

Equal opportunity is not truly equal until all U.S. populations have equal access to the same quality of education and equitable development programs.

Government can institute new employment laws to promote life and work balance and to guarantee a healthy (mental and physical) work environment. Contrary to what some managers think, this recommendation does not have to incur additional costs or liabilities to their businesses, instead it will improve working relationships and productivity and reduce employee turnover. A smart corporate policy will ensure the development of its management team to transform an alpha-dominating/intimidating leadership style into a coaching leadership style with better work and relationship ethics.

D) Media:

Without controlling free speech and the commercial rights of media owners, government can fund public broadcasting to produce more educational and awareness programs to promote mental and emotional well-being, life management skills and social bonding. That will help change the public taste and demand for the type of information and commercial media programs.

E) Education:

If you google “antidepressants” you will get more then six million pages. If you do the same for "depression prevention" you will get less than 50 thousand. If you google "happiness education" you will get less than 500! Even when using different search phrases, the results are more focused on treatment than prevention. Many mild to moderate depression cases can be eliminated or at least greatly helped with personal life management and happiness education

Start in high schools by providing basic social education in applied formats to personal and relationship management including basic psychology, self-awareness, leadership development, communication skills, conflict resolution, and basic sociology (social contracts and civil duties).

F) Environment

Institute and enforce better policies to promote a cleaner and safer environment (city planning, art, spaces, reduced pollution, noise, traffic, health, and so on.)

Original source

There's an election coming in the UK - what is the UK government doing to help us be happy?