Why happiness matters

World Happiness Report 2017 - Norway is the world's happiest country, and The United States falls into 14th. Yet despite being ranked 14th, writer James Pethokoukis still says  he'd "take economic growth over happiness any day." Of course, each man is entitled to his own opinion, but, personally, I think happiness matters more than economic growth. First, I must give context to this statement, however.

Of course, economic growth is important for any country. Even the researchers of the World Happiness Report acknowledge this. High incomes "may not buy happiness in general, but it gives individuals the opportunity to be healthier, better educated, better clothed, and better fed, to live longer, and to live well." This is especially true in countries where most of its citizens live in poverty. But this is where the differences come in. In a 3rd world country, someone who lives in poverty only cares for living a better life outside of that poverty. Economic growth to the point that it brings its citizens out of poverty will most likely make that country extremely happy. providing a bed to sleep on at night, food to eat, a shower to clean yourself in, etc., all these are huge steps within a country that is struggling economically. But the better off a country is, the less the economic growth actually matters.  If economic growth was really the underlying factor for happiness, then the biggest and richest countries would be ranked the highest, but this is simply not true. In fact, China, arguably the world's largest economy, is no happier than it was 25 years ago. "we're getting richer, but our social capital is deteriorating," says Dr. Sachs about the U.S. Once an economy is great enough for its citizens to be self-sufficient, soon economic growth falls to the background, and really what matters is social growth and cooperation. "It's the human things that matter. If the riches make it harder to have frequent and trustworthy relationship with people, is it worth it?" asked John Helliwell, one of the head authors in the WHR report. When looking at America, there is huge evidence of social cooperation becoming more important than economic growth.

"The country is mired in a roiling social crisis that is getting worse," writes Dr. Sachs. "Yet the dominant political discourse is all about raising the rate of economic growth." Dozens of problems infect America's society, and averting focus to economic growth won't fix the issues. Within the needs of America, to make a happy country, there is a need to fix the social construct, not make the economy greater. I don't say this to put economic growth down, but rather say that everything relates to the needs of the country. If a country requires economic growth, then surely focusing on that will increase the overall happiness and value of the country. But if a country faces other issues, such as social cooperation, then surely that is the issue to focus on.