A
Short History of Happiness Measures on Public Economic Policy
By:
Matthew Perry
Economists have long studied the
effects that Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product has on
individual nations. It has been these two measurements that have been seen as
the best window into the economic well-being and success of countries. There is
a movement within many scientific and social circles to expand the view of
economic well-being to include more aspects other than just raw economic data. While
the GDP and the GNP do play a significant role in the overall economic
well-being of nations, other aspects contribute to the welfare of countries as
well. Beginning in earnest in the 1970’s[1]
there has been a growing movement to include social factors such as health and
happiness into the overall view of the economic strength of a country.
The focus of this paper is an
investigation of the role of overall happiness of population when studying economic
growth. To truly understand a country and their people, one must investigate
the motives behind what drives an economy. If a community is happy and healthy,
they will naturally bring more to the economy of their country. The movement is
growing throughout economically powerful countries in Europe such as the United
Kingdom. This paper will investigate the movement from its inception in a tiny
Asian nation to the growth of happiness studies throughout the United Kingdom.[2]
The study of population happiness
and well-being in regards to the economy has a unique and surprising history.
In the small, land-locked Asian country of Bhutan, the King was concerned about
the influence of outside cultures on his people. The King of Bhutan was worried
that his people were out of touch with their culture and their faith. Bhutan
has a proud history and is isolated from much of the outside world. The King of
Bhutan was concerned about the implementation of television and western styles
of clothing, so the King began promoting his now famous slogan, “we seek gross
nation happiness not gross national income.”[3]
The Bhutanese defined the pillars of Gross National Happiness as, economic
self-reliance, environmental conservation, cultural preservation and promotion,
and good governance.[4]
Bhutan is a unique representation
of the study of happiness of public policy and economics. Bhutan is small and
isolated, and the driving force behind their happiness initiative is a
deep-seeded devotion to Buddhism. Many people that study social policy and the
happiness of populations have been very active in promoting the idea of these
types of studies in larger nations. The difficult aspect of this type of study
would be taking the religious aspects out of the theory and studies, secular
countries in Europe have begun to take the initiative and study the motives and
needs of their populations.
Many economists and sociologists have begun
studying and researching if happiness can play a significant role in economic
growth in secular countries such as the United Kingdom. In 2007, multiple
agencies across Europe held a conference entitled “Beyond GDP.” The conference
promoted the measurement of environmental and social indicators in economic
policy. The United Kingdom took up the initiative asking the population, “what
matters.”[5]
The summary provided by the UK government is a well-rounded investigation of
happiness measurements for the population. In 2014, the UK government released
the findings of economic satisfaction, the study focused on many factors of
happiness that included, relationships, health, location, personal finance,
overall economic growth, education, government and the environment.[6]
The impressive aspect of the United
Kingdom study is that fact that a large, economically powerful country is
willing to adopt a philosophy that originated in a small, isolated Buddhist
Kingdom. It shows that western governments are open to the idea of helping
their population explore their happiness and motives behind what makes their
economies thrive. It is vital to the overall growth of happiness studies and
well-being investigations that large countries such as the United Kingdom have
taken the initiative to study their population and examine the reasons behind
economic growth and spending beyond traditional measures.
Works Cited
BBC
News. Country Profile- Bhutan. Accessed April 4, 2017.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profile/54627.stm.
Government
of Bhutan. n.d. Tenth Five Year Plan. Accessed April 3, 2017.
http://www.gnhc.gov.bt/wp-content/uploads/2011/10thplan/TenthPlan_Vol1_Web.pdf.
Office
for National Statistics. 2014. Life in the UK March 2014 Infographic. Accessed
April 3, 2017.
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/wellbeing/measuring-national-well-being/life-in-the-uk--2014/info-life-in-the-uk.html.
United
Kingdom Neighbourhood Statistics. n.d. Measures of National Well-Being.
Accessed April 3, 2017.
http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc146/wrapper.html.
Weiner,
Eric. n.d. BBC Travel. Accessed April 3, 2017.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150408-bhutans-dark-secret-to-happiness.
United
Kingdom Office for National Statistics 2014
[1] BBC News. Country Profile- Bhutan.
Accessed April 4, 2017. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profile/54627.stm.
[2] United Kingdom Office for National
Statistics 2014
[3] BBC News. Country Profile- Bhutan.
Accessed April 4, 2017. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profile/54627.stm.
[5] United Kingdom Office for National
Statistics 2014
[6]
ibid
