Society

Smiley’s People

Five leading economists on whether happiness or well-being can be quantified—and whether money can buy love after all—in 2015 and beyond.

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Smiley’s People
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This is the Holy Grail of economics: how does one measure and quantify happiness in people’s lives? Bhutan is so far the only country measuring economic growth in terms of gross national well-being. Its measure is not based on personal happiness, but on a set of factors that would constitute ‘wellness’ of people. The need to map happiness has acquired urgency since a panel in France led by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz came out with its happiness report in September 2009. Lola Nayar asked five leading economists whether happiness or well-being could be quantified—and whether money can buy love after all—in 2015 and beyond.

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Dr Eugenio Proto
University of Warwick

“A good job, good health, a good family or rel­a­tions, wealth—they are all imp­­o­rtant factors. Perhaps income is less  important than the others, though it is difficult to understand why. But this could also be a problem of measure­ment.”

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Surjit S. Bhalla
Economist

“Income is highly co-related with happiness and opp­ortunities. Obviously, a poor person can be happy and a rich person could be sad. However, if you were to ask a person whether having more money would give him more happiness, he is not going to say no.”

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Gregg Easterbrook
Author, The Leading Indicators

“I don’t think happiness can be measured in economic terms. Research shows that being poor causes unhappiness—that’s expected. But once people reach a basic standard of living, then happiness and money decouple. Beyond that, what really matters in life—friends, family, love, the sense of self-worth, the sense that one’s life has meaning—these cannot be purchased with money. Billionaires have tried to buy love, and it doesn’t work!”

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Jayati Ghosh
Economist

“Obviously, health is an important indicator, having eno­ugh education to be able to develop your capacities, freedom to be mobile and able to do want you want, not be restricted but have a voice given the political and  social  inequalities.”

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Ajit Ranade
Chief economist, Aditya Birla Group

“If you are economically well off, it will help to promote a better quality of life, sense of well-being and securities like health, education and other opportunities that come with better income. People who are optimistic tend to be happy.”

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