Has our Government got it right? Let’s ask!

A recent press release by the University of Warwick has been detailing the economics of happiness and the pursuit of governments to improve happiness of its citizens. However, Professor Andrew Oswald has argued that they have missed a vital part.

Gross Domestic Product is no longer an adequate measure

As detailed in new research by the Warwick Economics Professor as well as a former Cabinet Secretary, Lord O’Donnell, it is claimed that “As a society evolves, it is vital to allow the concept of success also to evolve. Gross Domestic Product is no longer an adequate measure”. Professor Oswald goes further, commenting that “A new kind of economics of feelings is emerging”. This economics of feelings should in effect aim to have policy designed “that aims to reduce anxiety or raise happiness or raise the worthwhileness of life”.

Professor Oswald discusses that a government should “allow citizens to decide”

This however is understandably tricky; for a government to determine which emotional priorities to be perused for each generation, at a particular time, can prove problematic. Professor Oswald discusses that a government should “allow citizens to decide”.

In recent years, governments have been adapting to new research and responding to economics of feelings. Certainly in the United Kingdom, subjects are now questioned on their “levels of: satisfaction, worry/anxiety, sense of worth, or intrinsic happiness”. However it is difficult to quantify this data into a coherent list, with which feeling should be prioritised. Professor Oswald argues that the simplest way for governments to decide, is for them not to decide but instead “do it democratically”.

For more information regarding the economics of happiness and the work of Warwick Economics Professor Oswald, visit: www.andrewoswald.com