NEW YORK
– We live in a time of high anxiety. Despite the world’s unprecedented total
wealth, there is vast insecurity, unrest, and dissatisfaction. In the United
States, a large majority of Americans believe that the country is “on the wrong
track.” Pessimism has soared. The same is true in many other places.
Against
this backdrop, the time has come to reconsider the basic sources of happiness
in our economic life. The relentless pursuit of higher income is leading to
unprecedented inequality and anxiety, rather than to greater happiness and life
satisfaction. Economic progress is important and can greatly improve the
quality of life, but only if it is pursued in line with other goals.
In this
respect, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan has been leading the way. Forty years
ago, Bhutan’s fourth king, young and newly installed, made a remarkable choice:
Bhutan should pursue “gross national happiness” rather than gross national
product. Since then, the country has been experimenting with an alternative,
holistic approach to development that emphasizes not only economic
growth, but also culture, mental health, compassion, and
community.
Dozens of
experts recently gathered in Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu, to take stock of the
country’s record. I was co-host with Bhutan’s prime minister, Jigme Thinley, a
leader in sustainable development and a great champion of the concept of “GNH.”
We assembled in the wake of a declaration in July by the United Nations General
Assembly calling on countries to examine how national policies can promote
happiness in their societies.
All who
gathered in Thimphu agreed on the importance of pursuing happiness rather than
pursuing national income. The question we examined is how to achieve happiness
in a world that is characterized by rapid urbanization, mass media, global
capitalism, and environmental degradation. How can our economic life be
re-ordered to recreate a sense of community, trust, and environmental
sustainability?
Here are
some of the initial conclusions. First, we should not denigrate the value of
economic progress. When people are hungry, deprived of basic needs such as
clean water, health care, and education, and without meaningful employment,
they suffer. Economic development that alleviates poverty is a vital step in
boosting happiness.
Second,
relentless pursuit of GNP to the exclusion of other goals is also no path to
happiness. In the US, GNP has risen sharply in the past 40 years, but happiness
has not. Instead, single-minded pursuit of GNP has led to great inequalities of
wealth and power, fueled the growth of a vast underclass, trapped millions of
children in poverty, and caused serious environmental degradation.
Third,
happiness is achieved through a balanced approach to life byboth individuals and societies.
As individuals, we are unhappy if we are denied our basic material needs, but
we are also unhappy if the pursuit of higher incomes replaces our focus on
family, friends, community, compassion, and maintaining internal balance. As a
society, it is one thing to organize economic policies to keep living standards
on the rise, but quite another to subordinate all of society’s values to the
pursuit of profit.
Yet
politics in the US has increasingly allowed corporate profits to dominate all
other aspirations: fairness, justice, trust, physical and mental health, and
environmental sustainability. Corporate campaign contributions increasingly
undermine the democratic process, with the blessing of the US Supreme Court.
Fourth,
global capitalism presents many direct threats to happiness. It is destroying
the natural environment through climate change and other kinds of pollution,
while a relentless stream of oil-industry propaganda keeps many people ignorant
of this. It is weakening social trust and mental stability, with the prevalence
of clinical depression apparently on the rise. The mass media have become
outlets for corporate “messaging,” much of it overtly anti-scientific, and
Americans suffer from an increasing range of consumer addictions.
Consider
how the fast-food industry uses oils, fats, sugar, and other addictive
ingredients to create unhealthy dependency on foods that contribute to obesity.
One-third of all Americans are now obese. The rest of the world will eventually
follow unless countries restrict dangerous corporate practices, including
advertising unhealthy and addictive foods to young children.
The
problem is not just foods. Mass advertising is contributing to many other
consumer addictions that imply large public-health costs, including excessive
TV watching, gambling, drug use, cigarette smoking, and alcoholism.
Fifth, to
promote happiness, we must identify the many factors other than GNP that can
raise or lower society’s well-being. Most countries invest to measure GNP, but
spend little to identify the sources of poor health (like fast foods and
excessive TV watching), declining social trust, and environmental degradation.
Once we understand these factors, we can act.
The mad
pursuit of corporate profits is threatening us all. To be sure, we should
support economic growth and development, but only in a broader context: one
that promotes environmental sustainability and the values of compassion and
honesty that are required for social trust. The search for happiness should not
be confined to the beautiful mountain kingdom of Bhutan.
