OECD Seeks Happiness A Good Development

This article depicts the shifting economic mindsets to social wellbeing away from economic indicators of economic wellbeing. This is a positive development as there is a growing awareness that people are not happy. In truth it is a similar proposition to the idea that money can not make you happy. I have known people from all walks of life and varied economic wealth and what I find brings happiness is to be who you are. The OECD Index doesn’t venture into that depth, but the underlying question is why are people feeling unhappy? We can witness this unhappiness by growing trends in road rage (stress), workplace bullying, marital breakdown, mental illness (depression) and by anti-social behaviour. As a peace clown I see clearly when I am on the streets the inner glow of people when it is there. People want to be happy and I find they are quick to join in to create happiness. However, we live in economic structures that regard jocularity, spontaneity, indeed creativity as inappropriate in work settings. A sense of humour can be regarded as not taking work seriously, yet that very seriousness is what is creating unhappiness, as people often don’t feel they achieve enough, are good enough or find it impossible to progress to gain a sense of success in an endless workplace. That sense of fulfillment is in truth the desire for depth, for meaning for purpose in life. Often people seek that through having children to find that even there they feel society is working against them. So the notion of happiness is deep and whilst I applaud steps towards jargon such as Wellbeing, the actual movement towards this will be when we replace wealth as the goal with happiness. When we make that shift, there will be no need for any economic or wellbeing indices.

Just imagine we could have the goodwill games (instead of Olympics), we could have cooperation instead of competition (helping others win), laughter as the best medicine (instead of medical intervention), laughter police (arresting serious people), physical beauty transformed into the beauty of smiling, sending love letters rather then letters of complaint, jokes as ice breaker interventions when we take ourselves to seriously. Ah just the thought of it makes me smile. A world of clowns, that is my dream. Believe me you would love it. When I take life lightly, I start to understand the meaning of enlightenment. It really is a beautiful world. Stop watching television and starting living, keep smiling and see how people respond.

OECD launches happiness index

PARIS — A so-called “happiness index” to measure well-being and perceptions of living conditions came into life at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday.

Called officially “Your better life index”, the new measure is part of a wider OECD programme to measure well-being and progress and is launched to mark the 50th anniversary of the OECD.
The index covers 11 areas: housing, incomes, employment, social relationships, education, the environment, the administration of institutions, health, general satisfaction, security and the balance between work and family.

OECD secretary general Angel Gurria said: “This index encapsulates the OECD at 50, pushing the boundaries of knowledge and understanding in a pioneering and innovative manner.”
He added: “People around the world have wanted to go beyond GDP for some time. This index is designed for them. It has extraordinary potential to help us deliver better policies for better lives.”
The head of statistics at the OECD, Martine Durand, said that the idea was to measure more closely matters which people thought were important to them.

The index is intended to enable people in the 34 OECD member countries to compare their countries according to criteria which they think are important, Durand said.

The OECD hopes soon to make the index applicable to other countries, beginning with emerging economies such as Brazil.
The index is the first concrete result of a report by former Nobel economics prizewinner Joseph Stiglitz, OECD officials said.
The index comes into being as the Paris-based OECD celebrates its 50th anniversary and immediately before a summit of Group of Eight (G8) leaders in Deauville, northern France.

France holds the presidency of the G8, and in September 2009 a commission headed by Stiglitz submitted to Sarkozy proposals for improving the way growth is measured to overcome shortcomings in the main measure of growth, the index of gross domestic product (GDP).

The OECD has worked for some years on ways of calculating a well-being index to complement the GDP and other indicators.