SEED Magazine:
Wealth of Nations:
"Shared natural resources underpin the global economy, but our current economic system does not acknowledge their worth. Can a major new effort to assess the costs of biodiversity loss force a paradigm shift in what we value?" [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Nov 30, 2010 -
10 comments
The Happy Planet Index presents an alternative to GDP for measuring standard of living. It ranks countries by measuring life expectancy and self-reported life satisfaction against an "ecological footprint" needed to support that country's lifestyle. The
press release claims that well-being is not based on high levels of consumption, but
many don't agree.
Full report in PDF here. Vanuatu tops the charts, while Zimbabwe and Swaziland lie at bottom. Critiques
here,
here,
here, and
here. A critique of happiness indices generally
here.
posted by shivohum
on Jun 3, 2007 -
19 comments
Is the U.S. Bankrupt? [332Kb PDF] Laurence Kotlikoff, writing in this month's
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, says "yes" - to the tune of $66 trillion! [more inside]
posted by ikkyu2
on Jul 16, 2006 -
67 comments
How happy are you? Today's NYT has a great article on alternate methods of analyzing the overall well-being of a country, focusing on Bhutan, the largely Buddhist country whose king put forth an alternative to the capitalist-centric Gross Domestic Product: Gross National Happiness. Not only does it fit in with Buddhist ideals, but organizations like the
World Values Survey have come to
some (not-so) surprising findings regarding the correlation between wealth and happiness. There are similar movements cropping up around the world, such as Australia's
Genuine Progress Indicator, which attempts to quantify non-material progress rather than rely on subjective interpretations of happiness. How do you measure your own happiness?
posted by mkultra
on Oct 4, 2005 -
49 comments