BLUF
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) needs to be challenged as the world’s leading economic indicator of a nation’s overall wellbeing.Summary
This article's author argues that using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to gauge a nation's wellbeing is less than ideal. GDP has been the international measure for economic performance for decades. But, many believe it remains far from being an accurate representation of people's living standards. As a result, some nations have moved away from this traditional form of 'wellness' measurement. Recently, New Zealand's Budget explicitly stated that NZ's was redefining national welfare to incorporate not only the health of its finances and but also its:
'natural resources, people and communities'.
Bhutan is another example; in recent years, Bhutan has introduced a Gross National Happiness (GNH) measure. As far back as 1629, Bhutan's legal code stated:
'If the government cannot create happiness for its people, then there is no purpose for the government to exist.'
GNH began to be formally promoted in Bhutan in the 1970s.
References
- Aug 2020 Scientific American GDP Is the Wrong Tool for Measuring What Matters
- Dec 2020 ScienceDirect Health care, overconsumption and uneconomic growth: A conceptual framework
- Jul 2021 International Banker Why A Proactive Approach To Wellbeing Will Pay Dividends
- RAAF RUNWAY: RATIONALE, GUIDELINES, LEARNING OUTCOMES, ETC |
