tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089082204850170942.post9078900797924093318..comments2024-03-21T12:52:08.166+11:00Comments on Freedom and Flourishing: Is Bhutan's GNH experiment a success or failure?Winton Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07383561940886657594noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089082204850170942.post-40056116132984341922011-03-06T12:09:51.589+11:002011-03-06T12:09:51.589+11:00Hi Lorraine
I will intersperse my responses with y...Hi Lorraine<br />I will intersperse my responses with your comments:<br /><br />* "Marketists just love Sachs-bashing, don't they? Well, I must admit even I find dogooderism annoying at times."<br />I think Sachs has his heart in the right place. I'm just a bit alarmed about the policies that he might think appropriate to pursue a GNH objective. I don't see that a GNH objective would add much to the well-being objectives that western democratic governments already pursue - unless its proponents think this is a way to introduce an additional element of coercion in pursuit of their objectives.<br /><br />* "Perhaps a better remedy for hyperconsumerism than paternalistic intervention by governments is paternalistic rhetoric from marketists. It seems every discussion of America's 'sub-prime' mortgage crisis will include several remarks from the right blaming the 'sub-prime people' for making bad decisions (specifically, for 'overconsuming). I suggest a third alternative, consumer education, which should not be confused with public relations constructs such as 'financial education' or 'financial literacy.' Lesson One: The salescritter is not your friend."<br />I don't think consumers should be blamed for the sub-prime mortgage crisis. It is all very well to say that with the benefit of hindsight a lot of people over-committed - but I think most of those decisions would look pretty rational given the inflation expectations etc prevailing when they were made.<br />I agree with you about the importance of consumer education, but I can't see anything wrong with financial literacy.<br /><br /><br />* "The point isn't whether Bhutan beats India (or any other country) in the GDP game. The point is exploring whether GDP is a prerequisite for happiness."<br />I deserve that comment:) In my defence, economic growth is particularly important in low income countries because so much else depends on it. Apart from getting enough food, reasonable housing etc, the quality of health and education services depends on the productive capacity of the economy.<br /><br />* "I would say that growth, happiness and traditional values are three separate things. I take it King Wangchuk tells us tradition is the key to happiness?"<br />A lot depends on how you define happiness. The GNH definition is a very broad measure of well-being.<br />If you define happiness more narrowly as emotional well-being it makes sense to say that well-being is a function of wealth, health, emotional well-being,sense of achievement etc etc.<br />King Wangchuk certainly placed a lot of emphasis on cultural traditions. But he also emphasized environmental values, emotional well-being and acknowledged the importance of material standard of living. <br /><br />* "I agree that weighted indicators are BS, as they are based on the assumption that well-being is a scalar quantity. I suggest otherwise, despite certain limitations. I propose maxhi schema for individual self-reporting of 'happiness criteria.' "<br />Thanks for your reference to maxhi. I think something similar has been used in a happiness measurement project in the Philippines.Winton Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07383561940886657594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089082204850170942.post-67462214066714504332011-03-05T15:40:17.521+11:002011-03-05T15:40:17.521+11:00* Marketists just love Sachs-bashing, don't th...* Marketists just love Sachs-bashing, don't they? Well, I must admit even I find dogooderism annoying at times.<br /><br />* Perhaps a better remedy for hyperconsumerism than paternalistic intervention by governments is paternalistic rhetoric from marketists. It seems every discussion of America's 'sub-prime' mortgage crisis will include several remarks from the right blaming the 'sub-prime people' for making bad decisions (specifically, for 'overconsuming). I suggest a third alternative, consumer education, which should not be confused with public relations constructs such as 'financial education' or 'financial literacy.' Lesson One: The salescritter is not your friend.<br /><br />* The point isn't whether Bhutan beats India (or any other country) in the GDP game. The point is exploring whether GDP is a prerequisite for happiness.<br /><br />* I would say that growth, happiness and traditional values are three separate things. I take it King Wangchuk tells us tradition is the key to happiness?<br /><br />* I agree that weighted indicators are BS, as they are based on the assumption that well-being is a scalar quantity. I suggest <a href="http://n8chz.blogspot.com/2006/09/quality-of-life-as-vector-valued.html" rel="nofollow">otherwise</a>, despite <a href="http://ideas.repec.org/p/iim/iimawp/wp1989-08-01_00894.html" rel="nofollow">certain limitations</a>. I propose <a href="http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Maxhi_schema" rel="nofollow">maxhi schema</a> for individual self-reporting of 'happiness criteria.'Lorrainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13567383019731167967noreply@blogger.com