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Jul 28, 2015 | by centredevelopment

Beyond GDP: The economics of human wellbeing

Jan Emmanuel De Neve from our cross cutting evidence programme shows the very latest data and insights on the relationship between happiness and economic growth in this new TEDx talk.

Many global institutions and governments use GDP as a measure of social progress and development, although the creator of GDP said it was not designed to be used this way.

The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income.

Simon Kuznets on GDP and well-being in 1934.
Simon Kuznets, 1934. “National Income, 1929–1932”. 73rd US Congress, 2d session, Senate document no. 124, page 7.
Distinctions must be kept in mind between quantity and quality of growth, between its costs and return, and between the short and the long term. Goals for more growth should specify more growth of what and for what.”
Simon Kuznets in 1962.
The conversation has recently focused on ‘beyond GDP’ and finding new measures of what matter to people.  Wellbeing is increasingly being used a measure of social progress and in this talk Jan explores the economics of wellbeing.

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