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Your money or your life: Can nations prosper by putting well-being before GDP?

4 Comments
By Rina Chandran

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4 Comments
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While I don't have an answer to the question in the title of the article, I am reminded of the democratic-socialist countries of Scandinavia, which have refused to abandon concern for the welfare of their populace. Collectively, they have a population and gdp smaller than California or Japan, but their people live well.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I believe it’s a no brainier. What happens if you don’t charge your mobile phone? The battery dies, it doesn’t work. The better you preserve and look after your things, the better they will serve and perform. Humans work in the same way.

Thinking of the arts, sport or recreation being as important, rather than an after thought or spare time, will in tern lead to greater productivity.

You find something that you’re passionate about because your mindset is right and as a direct result of that, you want to work hard because what you’re doing has meaning.

It is possible to access and think with both hemispheres of the brain. However typically the money people who call the shots often have a different mindset. If you look at all of the landmarks designed by creatives and independent thinkers, The Eiffel Tower, Sagrada Familia, Sistine Chapel, They have all increased the value of those cities exponentially through tourism.

There is always going to be hard graft and elements of donkey work with any job, but if the mind is right then the rest will follow.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What matter is GDP when your population live in stress, depression and anxiety ? Fear of losing jobs not because they're lazy, but because there are forces like automation, shifting economic climate - that they can't control - forcing them out, without safety net to bounce back.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

GDP is not a measure of economic health, nor was it intended to be. Just output, on the assumption bigger is always better.

GDP per capita is much better, but is rarely used, as it would make mass immigration countries, like the US, UK, Canada, etc. look worse, and countries like Japan look better. this would be a serious threat to the globalization agenda, and is thus basically ignored.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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