Is national happiness going to be a better way to measure economies than

GDP in 2030?

To address this question we must first define what the economy is. The economy is “ the
state of a country or region in terms of the production and consumption of goods and
services and the supply of money”. There is no one way of measuring or quantifying the
economy given how ambiguous and broad its definition is and thus there is much conflict on
how it should be measured.

While it may not be the most efficient, GDP has been the most recognised and has been
collectively accepted by the majority of the world. GDP is the market value of all final goods
and services produced within a country in a given period of time. It indicates whether or not
an economy is growing or not because more goods and services are produced or declining
because there is less output. Given that it effectively measures a country's purchasing power
over a specific time period, using GDP as an indicator of a country's economy is completely
valid. Some other advantages of utilising GDP is that it can be easily calculated and the
ability for it to allow economists to vaguely predict oncoming inflation/deflation and take
necessary action against it .GNH may take into account more psychological factors however
GDP could be argued to be more accurate as it provides quantitative data as opposed to
qualitative and it is less subjective than happiness . Moreover GDP includes items that are
only sold legally within a market, validating it as a measure.

However, whether or not a country’s GDP is expanding or not, we assume if our economy is
performing well - this is a common misconception that the majority of the population are led
to think. A country’s economy could be performing horribly or investing high amounts of
money into artillery for war but this does not equal a thriving economy and so unsuitable to
be measuring one. In actuality, people fail to realise that GDP retains several limitations. For
example the ambiguity of cause, shadow economy, living standards, goodwill work, - this
provides false information as to how the economy is truly performing .Therefore, it is not so
much an accurate reflection and so cannot be classified as a “better way to measure GDP in
2030”. For example, in terms of GDP, America is said to have the highest; this would
immediately lead the general public to automatically assume the US has the best economy.
However this is not the case - it is in fact Switzerland that has the best, most stable
economy, contrary to what people might believe. As a result of these ignored hindrances,
negative externalities are formed, creating adverse effects on society.
Therefore GDP is not only an inefficient measure of the economy but one that actively badly
affects the population.

While happiness, more particularly GNH, is a more abstract way of measuring economies, it
takes the people's social wellbeing, health into perspective, as well as other often
disregarded factors in GDP such as generosity within charity. GNH consists of
environmental protection, cultural preservation and promotion, good governance, and
sustainable development; when considering 2030, and the entirety of the future in fact, these
factors are all very relevant. GNH is an attempt to use happiness as a gauge for policy
goals rather than output and revenues, as to a normal person numbers may seem more
secure and stable, a measure like GDP is not sustainable as it fails to include any activity
that does not operate within a market. Moreover, aside from the textbook definition of
economics, economics is a study concerning the people and so our well-being and
happiness is a crucial contribution to measuring economies.

Hence, while GDP may be the most conventional measure for the economy that doesn’t
necessarily mean it’s the best way and so I believe GNH is the more superior method and
should be used in 2030.