Britain's PM David Cameron has spent 2 million pounds in a project to measure wellbeing and happiness in the UK.
Today Isabel Oakeshott writes in the Sunday Times
"The report which is due to be released to coincide with "Blue-Monday" tomorrow, has concluded that David Cameron’s strategy of measuring and explicitly promoting happiness over other objectives is a waste of time.
Drawing from an array of data from 126 countries, the 250-page report by the free-market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) finds that the most important indicator of happiness is wealth, and says the government should forget general wellbeing and concentrate on boosting Britain’s flatlining GDP".
Hum,interestingly enough researchers from the University of Warwick, highlighted how relatively ineffective extra income is at raising well-being. The researchers further drew on two striking pieces of independent evidence to illustrate their point – over the last 50 years developed countries have not seen any increases to national happiness in spite of huge economic gains. Mental health on the other hand appears to be deteriorating worldwide. The researchers argue that resources should be directed towards the things that have the best chance of improving the health and happiness of our nations – investment in mental health care by increasing the access and availability of psychological therapy could be a more effective way of improving national well-being than the pursuit of income growth.
We'd love to hear your thoughts, can money buy happiness?
Source: Sunday Times
