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Can government make you happy?
Gross National Happiness: A global debate
Patrick D. Hazard
Who would expect a tiny (but beautiful) country— population 738,000, squeezed between India and Tibet— to lead a contemporary international debate about what makes a fulfilling life?
More than 30 years ago, Bhutan's fourth king coined the term "Gross National Happiness" (GNH) to pose a humane alternative to the materialistic Gross National Product measurements of the more developed Western powers. Jigmi Thinley, Bhutan's prime minister since 2008, flinches when he hears Bhutan characterized as "the happiest place on Earth." His mission, he says, is to create a society of tiny villages into something more than a utopian dream. He envisions four pillars to his GNH: sustainable economic development, conservation of the environment, preservation of culture and good governance.
Little Bhutan, you see, is experiencing the Easterlin Paradox, named after the American economist Richard Easterlin, who made headlines when he perceived that beyond a certain threshold, rising incomes don't bring greater happiness. But if Easterlin is correct, what can governments do— other than economic development— to promote happiness among their citizens?
Personal questions
If Bhutan is any guide, the first step is: Take a survey. Bhutan's grilling of 8,000 citizens took place in their homes, where they were asked deeply personal questions, such as, "How many people could you count on for help in case you get sick?" Or "How often do you talk about spirituality with your children?" Or "When did you last spend time socializing with your neighbors?"
In so-called advanced countries, such questions tend to be hijacked for commercial purposes by the elements of mass society, like advertising, broadcasting, print media, and pop culture in general. But different cultures have responded differently to this massification. Since the global fiscal crisis of 2008, Columbia University's Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz has noted, calls to devise an alternative to GNP have flourished.
When Bhutan took up GNH, Stiglitz observed, "Some people said it was because they wanted to take attention away from lack of development. I think quite the contrary. The crisis has made us aware of how bad our metrics were even in economics, because U.S. GDP looked good, and then we realized it was all a phantasm."
Alternative indexes
Stiglitz now heads an important French commission to analyze such issues. And the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has set up Your Better Life Index, a new website that allows countries to rank themselves on 11 measures of well-being. Not surprisingly, Denmark and Sweden rank highest on work/life balance and the environment.
Canada's province of Alberta and the city of Edmonton have supported the "Canadian Index of Wellbeing." Instead of asking survey questions (as in Bhutan), Canada has created an index of 64 existing statistics (among them work hours and violent crime) that are considered components of well being. Maryland has devised a "Genuine Progress Indicator" (GPI).
Vermont's social service agency translates lofty dreams into concrete terms. For example, instead of decreasing the lasting impacts of poverty, the state set a goal of reducing the gap in reading test scores.
"All of these things," says Monica Hunt, that state's director of planning and policy, "are connected to that happiness index that started in Bhutan."
It's enough to make you hopeful that the human race may yet think its way out of its historical preoccupations with wealth, territory and arms. If Vermont, Maryland, Canada, France and Nobel economists are all following Bhutan's lead, who knows what else is possible?♦
To read a response, click here.
More than 30 years ago, Bhutan's fourth king coined the term "Gross National Happiness" (GNH) to pose a humane alternative to the materialistic Gross National Product measurements of the more developed Western powers. Jigmi Thinley, Bhutan's prime minister since 2008, flinches when he hears Bhutan characterized as "the happiest place on Earth." His mission, he says, is to create a society of tiny villages into something more than a utopian dream. He envisions four pillars to his GNH: sustainable economic development, conservation of the environment, preservation of culture and good governance.
Little Bhutan, you see, is experiencing the Easterlin Paradox, named after the American economist Richard Easterlin, who made headlines when he perceived that beyond a certain threshold, rising incomes don't bring greater happiness. But if Easterlin is correct, what can governments do— other than economic development— to promote happiness among their citizens?
Personal questions
If Bhutan is any guide, the first step is: Take a survey. Bhutan's grilling of 8,000 citizens took place in their homes, where they were asked deeply personal questions, such as, "How many people could you count on for help in case you get sick?" Or "How often do you talk about spirituality with your children?" Or "When did you last spend time socializing with your neighbors?"
In so-called advanced countries, such questions tend to be hijacked for commercial purposes by the elements of mass society, like advertising, broadcasting, print media, and pop culture in general. But different cultures have responded differently to this massification. Since the global fiscal crisis of 2008, Columbia University's Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz has noted, calls to devise an alternative to GNP have flourished.
When Bhutan took up GNH, Stiglitz observed, "Some people said it was because they wanted to take attention away from lack of development. I think quite the contrary. The crisis has made us aware of how bad our metrics were even in economics, because U.S. GDP looked good, and then we realized it was all a phantasm."
Alternative indexes
Stiglitz now heads an important French commission to analyze such issues. And the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has set up Your Better Life Index, a new website that allows countries to rank themselves on 11 measures of well-being. Not surprisingly, Denmark and Sweden rank highest on work/life balance and the environment.
Canada's province of Alberta and the city of Edmonton have supported the "Canadian Index of Wellbeing." Instead of asking survey questions (as in Bhutan), Canada has created an index of 64 existing statistics (among them work hours and violent crime) that are considered components of well being. Maryland has devised a "Genuine Progress Indicator" (GPI).
Vermont's social service agency translates lofty dreams into concrete terms. For example, instead of decreasing the lasting impacts of poverty, the state set a goal of reducing the gap in reading test scores.
"All of these things," says Monica Hunt, that state's director of planning and policy, "are connected to that happiness index that started in Bhutan."
It's enough to make you hopeful that the human race may yet think its way out of its historical preoccupations with wealth, territory and arms. If Vermont, Maryland, Canada, France and Nobel economists are all following Bhutan's lead, who knows what else is possible?♦
To read a response, click here.
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