The Importance Of Gross National Happiness

5. How are the wealth and productivity of a nation usually measured, and what other factors must be considered when evaluating the well-being of a nation’s people?

-The nation’s GDP is a good measure of its economic well being and progress because it represents the total value of all goods and services produced in an economy, and what a country produces and what it consumes are nearly identical.

By changing the perception of all types of wealth, not just fiscal prosperity, multiple pathways to happiness become apparent. “When your

The more economic prosperity the greater is the amount and degree of welfare generated and the likeliness in people is welcomed. However, social welfare is one of the major objectives of the nations. Along with this, it should also be noted down that, the government of all the countries and states should focus on the social welfare of the people where people live. It is again true that happiness follows good health. In this way, health is a very important consideration for all the economies of the world (Yih, 2011).

14. Explain why a nation’s GDP is both a good and poor measure of its economic well-being and progress?

Despite having nearly double the Gross Domestic Product of any other country in the world, the United States consistently ranks outside the top ten in statistics dealing with happiness and quality of life. In recent years, several social and economic problems have gained attention in the public sphere. Many of these problems have significant overlap with business conditions in the Northeast Ohio region. (World Bank, 2012; Helliwell, Layard and Sachs, 2012, p 31-55, Economist, 2005)

While it provides an indication of how far the economy has come on the long road it is not a direct measure of the nation 's welfare or well-being. GDP measures only output and makes no claims on the quality of that output. GDP lets alone subjective concepts such as social progress or human happiness. It only offers a value of marketed goods and services produced in a country in a given time frame but from the perspective of a citizen living with the day-to-day realities of life, GDP can be rather misleading. Based on that, optimism about national economy remains still limited.

Gross Domestic Product, also known as GDP, is defined as the dollar value of all final goods and service produced within the border of a country during a specific period of time, typically in one year. GDP measures the value for the whole country, and it also changes quickly. We can take a look at the trends of US GDP in the website of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a calculation that provides insight into the current economy of our nation to allow individuals to understand the current and past year’s standings in the economy. The calculation of the GDP allows for the government to determine what adjustments are necessary to manage an effective status for the economy. Based upon the GDP the government can forecast any necessary changes that must be made to either the monetary policy or the fiscal policy. The wealth of a country is based upon the government’s ability to manage the economy through the monetary system and not on the amount of money that is located within that economy. The calculations for the GDP are produced to provide the most

To get everything produced by a country's citizens, no matter where they are in the world, you should look at Gross National Product (GNP), also called Gross National Income (GNI).” (Amadeo,K. n.d) Each month, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, releases an estimate of the level and growth of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), which is the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States.

In chapter 3 of Dinner Party economics, measures of life, liberty, and happiness are described by analyzing the macro economy. In the study of human happiness, three factors are known to contribute the happiness of people which includes demographic traits, economic factors, and political factors.(p. 18) Certain governments have separate policies regarding inflation and unemployment. These political factors are related to economic factors which can ultimately determine the happiness of the general population.(p. 20) Chapter 3 also describes how identifying catalysts of happiness is

Even if we use the word “happiness” on daily basis, has anyone ever tried to define it? It’s harder than it seems. When do you feel happy? How is it when you feel happy? Is there any way to understand how much happiness to you experience? This is the main hypothesis of this paper – Can happiness or wellbeing be measured? And if it can be measured, how do we measure it? Happiness is feeling pleasure and enjoyment because of your life, situation (Meriam Webster). Pleasure and enjoyment are very subjective and means different things to different people. This is where the term subjective wellbeing comes from. There are a lot of things that can be included when measuring wellbeing. Various studies have been conducted to assess wellbeing and how does it affect other factors. For example Earlstin(1995) and later on Ferrer-i-Carbonell(2005) have examined the relationship between income and happiness. Gruber(2004) studies the relationship cigarette taxation and happier smokers. Richard, Clark, Gerogellis and Diener(2004) analyze the effect of unemployment on wellbeing.

GDP is the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time. GDP is basically the measure of a nation's total income and is an important tool in explaining a single society's economic well-being (Mankiw, 2009).

I started to question about happiness in America after I saw a pattern in high school that students are often confused or stressed. I started out with the question, “why is it hard to be happy when being happy shouldn’t be that hard?” To answer these questions, I found Sophie Chan’s 2011 study, “Hong Kong Chinese community leaders’ perspectives on family health, happiness and harmony: a qualitative study.” This study would help answer questions on my audience’s curiosity about other countries happiness compared to the United States. Then I started to think that there were also other issues that friction with happiness in America and

Robert F Keneddy speech on GDP highlighted the unique aspects associated with the understanding of GDP. The speech talked about the meaning and importance of GDP and the misinterpretations that are often attached with the concept. He was of the view that accumulation of material things has remained a main focus of economic agents and doing so community values and community excellence are often compromised. In his speech he presented an important concept that GDP cannot be used as a measure of welfare of wellbeing of the economy because it does not take into account the health of individuals, their standard of living, quality of education provided to the individuals etc. In this way it is not a good option to rely on GDP while having an idea about the development of an economy.