Happiness as Public Policy

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

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[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.

[4] Government of Bhutan. n.d. Tenth Five Year Plan. Accessed April 3, 2017.

[5] United Kingdom Office for National Statistics 2014

[6] ibid

Back to Writing.

Hello all!
Thanks for checking out the blog, I know it has been a few months since I have written, but that is common during basketball season. Being a full time teacher,coach and father of three leaves little time for my creative side, but now that spring is near, it is time for my writing to pick back up again. I thought I would write about a topic that often goes overlooked when people study the American Civil War, winter campaigns. I have just recently finished my latest book about the Bloody Seventh West Virginia Infantry and they fought at one of the most famous winter battle of the war, Fredericksburg. It is that battle that I would like to investigate and discuss today.
19th Century warfare did not lend itself to winter campaigns, it was difficult enough to get thousands of men from point A to B in perfect weather, let alone in the wet winter season. Usually, an Army would enter Winter Quarters around late autumn and would mostly stay in that area until March or April. The most interesting, and ultimately fool-hardy, exception to winter action was the aforementioned Fredericksburg.
After the tactical draw at Antietam, Commander of the Army of the Potomac, George B. McClellan, refused to pursue the beleaguered Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan's refusal to take the fight to the enemy ultimately cost him his command. Lincoln finally fired McClellan for that second, and final time in November. Lincoln pegged General Ambrose B. Burnside as McClellan's replacement. Burnside was under pressure to act and begin a campaign immediately. It didn't matter to Lincoln and other politicians that it was November. Burnside designed an offensive and picked a strategic town on the Rappahannock River, Fredericksburg. Burnside ordered his army to head south towards Falmouth, Virginia, a town adjacent to Fredericksburg.
Burnside's plan called for pontoon bridges to be sent from the War Department, and hopefully, arrive in November, but Head of the War Department, Henry Halleck, drug his feet on Burnside's request. Burnside's Army would wait weeks in Falmouth for the pontoons to arrive, and eventually, the Confederates start amassing an army on the heights above Fredericksburg. Burnside's initial plan was not a bad one, but the failure to beat Lee to the punch and cross before the Rebels could re-enforce killed the plan. Burnside showed a major command flaw, he refused to change his initial plan, even when it became obvious that the attack should not be made.
The Army of the Potomac spent the first week of December on 1862 waiting for the pontoons to be built and trading with the Rebels across the river. Both sides knew that death and suffering was imminent, but they chose to put that aside on an individual level and meet for little swapmeets and other exchanges.
Finally, the Union Army crosses into town and sets about burning major structures throughout the area. All of this angers the Rebels on the heights and draws the ire of Jackson and Lee. When Burnside does order his attack of the Heights, it becomes a wholesale slaughter. Wave after wave of attackers are mutilated by entrenched rebels and, time and again, Burnside refuses to change the course. Burnside continued pushing the fight until, finally, he was convinced to call off the waves of attackers and quit for the night. Laying on that frozen battlefield, men were forced to use corpses of their comrades as protection and warmth from the elements.
Burnside failed miserably, but compounded the failure by forgetting it was winter. He immediately orders a march away from Falmouth, and the roads are so wet and terrible due to the season, that his wagons sink in the mud. It was this "mud march" that would destroy Burnside for good and cost him his command.

Book review

Blogger Mark Mason has written and funny and honest view into human foibles entitled The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life 

I found it An honest, and funny view of life and all the mistakes we have made. I love his scientific investigation of the failures of participation trophies and positive thinking. Sometimes we fail, sometimes we are assholes, and sometimes we overcome, it is the journey to overcoming our shortcomings that make us human and help us grow.

Audiobook

Audiobook was just approved. Will be available on audible.com within the next 24 hours. I will be having a giveaway over the next few days for a free copy. I appreciate the support with my writing!

Book signing

Had a great time at the book signing this afternoon at St. Peters Episcopal Church, I was alongside craft makers and other vendors and it was quite the fun experience. I am excited that so many people were interested in my books, and I hope to see some positive reviews on Amazon soon.

An Old Adage Ruins Adult Thought

With the surprising victory of President-Elect Trump this past week, there has been an outpouring of anger and jubilation depending on the side of the political spectrum you sit on. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites have exploded with memes, angry posts, jubilant posts and everything in between. This led to many on my facebook feed to chastise their friends for posting about politics, and it got me thinking about the adage, "don't discuss religion and politics," and that honestly made me angry. Are we truly so juvenile and petty that we can't discuss politics without somebody flying off the deep end? Are the majority of you like the "snowflakes" you so derisively mock for crying and weeping over Hillary's defeat? If you can't see other points of view and discuss them civilly, you are just as emotionally inept as the Yale students begging for a day off to grieve. I found myself guilty of this sometime Tuesday night, and I was ashamed, I saw a post that angered me, and I unfollowed somebody I respect. That was petty of me, but I feel it also was a learning experience for me as well, I saw the error of my ways, with the help of the friend calling me out, and I realized that I and most of the people I know, don't practice what we preach.
The Importance of Political Discussion

The reason that I feel so strongly about this is the fact that our country is based on sharing political ideas and ideals with each other. You don't have to like what I believe, nor do I need to agree with you, but we should, as grown ass adults, be able to share these ideas without crawling into the fetal position looking for our safe places. What if Thomas Jefferson, Ben Fraklin, and countless other founding fathers would have refused to engage in political discussion? I mean, I would enjoy tea time in the afternoon, but I am all about breaking away from Royal tyranny as our pals did in the 18th century. To grow as a nation and start to see a healing take place, partisan politics must take a backseat to the good for the country, and to start that process; we MUST DISCUSS THE ISSUES. I for one will never shrink away from a discussion again just because I disagree with somebody; that is what makes our country great. Get over yourselves and get to work on making this country as kick-ass as it can be!


MP

Side Project for teens

Been working on a side project for about a week. I was serious about writing a book for teens about gross stuff from history. The first section is about torture devices and execution methods. Here is the first chapter. Check it out!

Ok, let’s get one thing clear right now, the Vikings may be the most misunderstood and misinterpreted group of people to ever grace the earth. Popular culture would have you believe that they were nothing but mead swilling, horn helmet wearing heathens from the north countries. While they did enjoy copious amounts of mead, they did not have horned helmets and they weren’t a group of unwashed heathens. The Vikings actually had quite the sophisticated society that used their knowledge and ingenuity to conqueror most of the British Isles. Now, there are many great books about Viking history that I encourage you to check out if you are into a deeper history, for the sake of this book I am only going to discuss the absolutely bonkers way in which they executed hated enemies.

“The Blood Eagle” has to be the most insane execution method I have researched for this book. There are not many historical examples of it being used, but the practice was so terrifying that I think the Vikings made their point.

The most famous example of the “Blood Eagle” appeared in the 11^th century writing of Sigvat Tordarson. The Vikings were super-proud of their conquests of Britain and wrote a multitude of tales and poems about their conquests, and the conquest of the city of York ranked right up there. This really hardcore Viking named Ivar the Boneless (I love Viking names) decided that he needed to avenge his father. See guys, his father was a moron and thought that he could conquer the British land of Northumbria with a small fleet of Vikings, when the attack failed, Ivar’s dad, Ragnar Hairy Breeches( I really love Viking names) was executed by poison snake bites by the King Aella.

As you can imagine, having your dad thrown into a pit of poisonous snakes kind of ticked Ivar the Boneless just a smidge. He vows revenge and all that nice stuff and takes off for the City of York to implant a Viking axe into the head of Aella.

Aella and his men could not hold off the massive Viking onslaught on the city of York and he eventually capitulated. Once he was captured, Ivar saw his opportunity to avenge his father. Ivar ordered that Aella be sacrificed to Odin in the horrific “Blood Eagle”. The practice was barbaric and totally disgusting to watch, but the Vikings saw it as a necessary sacrifice to their God Odin. The enraged and psychotic Vikings would bound and tie Aella to a tree or face down on a plank of wood, the sources are sketchy on that aspect. The executioner then carved the shape of eagle wings into the back of Aella as he screamed in utter horror and pain. Then the real work began, the executioner then ribbed into his flesh and broke his ribs one by one and slowly and methodically pulled Aella’s lungs out from his back, laying them outstretched in the perfect parody of wings. All of this would still not kill Aella immediately, he suffered through the entire process and only died when he suffocated with his lungs exposed. Yea, the Vikings really didn’t mess around when they had revenge on their minds.