On 14 September, Joseph Stiglitz presented "Report on the measurement of economic performance and social progress" to his partner, Nicolas Sarkozy. Objective of the exercise (for the G20 of Pittsburgh): enabling nations and international organizations to take greater account of human and social dimensions in the assessment of economies. Very good. A bit silly, when Similarly, from the French president bling bling.
therefore Focus on humans. Focus on, as Justin would say, "true values". This time, recent academic studies, ranking countries according to their degree of happiness of their people were taken out of drawers. World Magazine leaned way, September 19th, the Danish world champions of happiness.
First observation: there are well-is it a surprise? - A correlation between material well-being and happiness. The four countries with the most people happy, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Iceland-have thriving economies (for Iceland, things are a bit spoiled since) and are respectively 9 th , 6 th , 20 th and 10 th ranking GNP / capita.
But the correlation Wealth / Happiness is not perfect. Bahamians, the Bhutanese and the Costa Ricans, ranked 5 th , 8 th and 13 th in the hit parade of happiness, seem not to "live evil" their relative poverty. Conversely, the strongest economies do not necessarily reflect the conditions of happiness: see Germany, France and Japan, ranked 90 th .
A multiplicity of factors explain the gap in a report, no doubt, very complex. One of these factors is particularly highlighted by Laurent Carpentier's World : social cohesion, the feeling, more or less strong, belonging to the nation. Amusing to note in this regard that all countries experiencing high ratting happiness kind of isolation: islands or peninsulas, a country nestled in the mountains, isolated countries institutionally.
The Danes therefore the happiest: strong welfare state and economy, security and respect, esteem, and most importantly, the fact of living among compatriots. The thesis of this couple listened, former minister and influential columnist, is explicit: "The happy Danes, a cohesion issue." Cohesion valuable fortunately preserved by a massive reduction of immigration flows, which became unbearable during the 90s (sic). It feels good because it is between us, we share the same values (resic). Henrik Dahl, a sociologist more critical, saying the same thing in reverse: "I'm afraid it's the old version-that of mechanical solidarity that is not beyond the realm of similar people-which prevails here. The Danes are a tribe. "
Denmark, Switzerland, Austria ... with their own cities and pretty, their green building advanced security into their streets, their efficient public transport, ... right-thinking societies, where difference is tolerated tip lips; countries said nationalism where good electoral results of populist and extreme right reflect a tendency to isolationism.
People so happy.
Disturbing.
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