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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2009)
^CELEBRATING A DECADE street roots m The economics of happiness r Education ♦ Dialogue ♦ Independence BY ADAM FORREST ___ FORREST - ^¿LLLüllIJ X __ ________ X STREET NEWS SERVICE e all like the idea of progress, and the instinct is coiled no more tightly than in the troubled world of work and money. The deeper this recession, the stronger the urge to spring back into action; to turn all those falling arrows, lines and numbers upward; to spread our wings and fly again. The narrative of economic expansion demands normal service be resumed as quickly as possible. Yet an increasing number of economists are daring to wonder if we’ve got growth all wrong. Researchers agree that people in Britain and the U.S. are no happier than they were at the beginning of the post-war recovery of the 1950s, despite the longest, largest boom in the history of wealth creation. Across the western world, depression and mental health problems are on the rise, inequality is becoming more pronounced, and a generation of young adults find themselves the first in a long time facing fewer opportunities and less prosperity than their parents. “Growth simply doesn’t bring increases in happiness for us,” says Richard Wilkinson, co-author of “The Spirit Level,” a recent study comparing health and happiness recently appointed a commission to come around the globe. “In developing countries pregnancy can be linked to the widening gap up with a better overall indicator than GDP, it can still bring advances, but it’s very clear between rich and poor. “A whole host of bad that developed countries have got to the end led by two Nobel laureates, Amartya Sen at things correlate with inequality, and all the Harvard and Joseph Stiglitz at Columbia. trends carry on getting worse in more of what economic growth can do for them.” “GDP is not a good measure,” says Stiglitz, unequal societies.” To understand our damaging obsession noting that politicians Britain and the with growth over well-being, we need to do not have enough U.S. are at the wrong confront the high priest of economic "There are powerful of an incentive to end of the equality performance: GDP. The concept of gross spectrum, and too increase the well interests who don't want domestic product began in Roosevelt’s often remain the being,of the citizenry. to change the world-view, America as a method of measuring the— models for progress “If you improve the success of policies to boost production and especially when there's so when other countries quality of life, but it consumption during the Great Depression. provide more much pressure right now doesn’t show up in GDP assumes that by increasing the enlightened policies. more material to get things hack to goods and services in circulation, general “You can get greater consumption, it normal." equality in different welfare will automatically follow, but output doesn’t show up in — PETER VICTOR ways,” Wilkinson has ceased to reflect the quality of our lives. AUTHOR, "MANAGING WITHOUT GDP, and you’ll be GROWTH" says. “Sweden does it In western economies in which wages have criticized.” through taxes and stagnated, pensions have shrunk or In other words, redistribution, disappeared and income disparity has our society is geared whereas Japan insists upon much smaller increased, GDP is no longer of any great use toward pleasing a false god. Or as Nic income differences before you get to that in measuring progress in the largest sense. Marks, of the New Economics Foundation stage, so you don’t actually need to spend There already have been numerous puts it: “If you have the wrong map, you are huge amounts on welfare. attempts to measure well-being alongside unlikely to reach your destination.” “Japanese directors would take pay cuts the wealth of nations (the tiny mountain So what would a more detailed, more to prevent people losing their jobs further kingdom of Bhutan famously introduced meaningful map look like? According to down. It’s a big difference from our culture Gross National Happiness in the 1970s), by Wilkinson, greater equality should be the where’s there’s less idea of shared wealth. looking at life expectancy, inequality, crime primary focus in ensuring a happier, But people are getting angry about the huge rates or environmental factors. Efforts to healthier world. His work suggests push some of these indexes higher up the everything from violent crime rates to rising wealth of a relatively few, and they’re right to be.” agenda are beginning to gather steam. levels obesity, addiction and teenage The French president Nicolas Sarkozy W GET TO KNOW YOUR LOCAL STREET ROOTS VENDOR 211 NW DAVIS PORTLAND, OR 97209 503-228-5657 New vendors are joining our team.everyIf you’d like tn innrn to sell the paper, come to tne onice ai 1 p.m.,Monday, Wednesday and Friday for orientation. . m a. i I. w • w *•) 13 Richard Layard, the LSE professor at the forefront of happiness economics, agrees the next stage of civilization should be * geared toward better social relations, particularly when it comes to health. “We should stop the worship of money and create a more humane society where the quality of human experience is the criterion,” says Lord Layard, who is pushing the government to provide various psychological therapies on the NHS. “Beyond subsistence, the best experience any society can provide is the feeling that • other people are on your side." If this all sounds very cozy, it must be remembered how bold it is to ask that we take the foot off the accelerator of growth, especially at a time when a shrinking economy equates to millions losing their jobs. Peter Victor, an environmental economist and author of a book called “Managing Without Growth,” thinks climate change leaves us without little choice but to slow down. Nature will not support more people producing more stuff and ever-increasing rates. “You could look at the focus on growth as a phase in our society, and the next phase needs to be stability," says Victor, who notes that growth has failed to wipe out poverty or unemployment. He thinks more sustainable societies could share labor around, meaning working fewer hours and more leisure time. “It’s difficult to get across that you can still live well without growth; people want to assume green technology is only useful if it continues to grow GDP. There aré powerful interests who don’t want to change the world-view, especially when there’s so much pressure right now to get things back to normal.” If we want a society geared toward happiness, the greatest conceit we have to overcome may be the idea of staying ahead of the competition. “We have to ask ourselves,” says Victor, “why is it so important to stay ahead of the Chinese and Indians? Shouldn’t we be pleased at some people being lifted out of poverty? “I was trained as an economist and I’m trying to wean myself off these old assumptions. Let’s worry about the things that matter.” Reprinted from The Big Issue Scotland © Street News Service: unvw.street-papers.org Home by Patricia Addams The cat looks at me imploringly Mama, is this all we got? I check to see if her food is bad and it smelled awful good to me. Decided it was time to call them 10-year-old split peas lentils. So I cooked them puppies surveyed my choices ate the beans but the cat food smelled like it would’ve tasted better. Power mongers are famous for getting their nuts by watching people eat their pride. No, it doesn’t rhyme, but it’s still not art - I would offer a chair if I had one - this is my home.
