Importante studio opina sulla cosiddetta economia della felicità.
Sostituendo la misura del PIL con gli indicatori di felicità si rende ancora più vago e manipolabile un concetto quale quello di "bene pubblico".
"...Hayek said of the phrase ‘the common good’ that: ‘it does not need much reflection to see that [this term has] no sufficiently definite meaning to determine a particular course of action..."
Quando si parla di felicità sacatta un riflesso condizionato e si pensa subito a politiche ambientali o di giustizia sociale. Non è così.
"...many people automatically assume that happinessbased policy would advance causes that they already champion, such as environmental protection or social justice. We saw in the previous chapter, however, that there does not appear to be any evidence that happiness-based environmental policy would offer improvements to current practice..."
Il riferimento alla felicità pone problemi etici non indifferenti, pensiamo al caso del Bhutan, ovvero del Paese che più coerentemente segue queste politiche.
"...Kingdom of Bhutan, for example, is cited approvingly by leading happiness advocates for being the first country in the world to use the concept of gross national happiness as the basis for policy. In this fortunate nation, national dress is compulsory and, until recently, television was banned..."
"...Bhutan wants to protect and maintain its culture, so the government achieves this by expelling the minority of the population which is ethnically Nepalese..."
La felicità sembra avere una forte relazione con l' invidia. L' invidia deriva da un confronto con chi ci sta vicino. La ricerca della felicità sembra penalizzare i modelli meritocratici.
"...it is only income within peer groups – among groups of people with whom one compares oneself – which determines happiness, rather than income inequality in society as a whole..."
Al momento sembrano non esserci variabili economico-sociali saldamente correlate con la felicità, ecco che allora ci si pone un dubbio.
"...even trying to increase the sum total of human happiness is an exercise in monumental futility, or that there are serious problems with measuring happiness..."
Come distinguere le politiche sociali alla luce dell' economia della felicità?
"...As Chapter 6 mentions, arguably the real dichotomy is not that of a material versus a holistic conception of welfare; it is between accepting preferences as a useful indicator of welfare, despite the acknowledged flaws of such an approach, and not doing so..."
Cosa nasconde in fondo il tentativo di introdurre misurazioni alternative al PIL?
"...until relatively recently, many well-meaning people on the left believed that the state should play an active role in the dayto- day running of industry. Following the abject failure of central planning in the Soviet bloc, there are few takers for this position today. But the reflex to reductively pinpoint capitalism as the root of all evil, the urge to intervene, the belief that the expert knows better than the ordinary person what is good for him or her, are incurable. Happiness research is one of the latest manifestations of this tendency. But, just like central planning, it is inherently flawed...".
Sostituendo la misura del PIL con gli indicatori di felicità si rende ancora più vago e manipolabile un concetto quale quello di "bene pubblico".
"...Hayek said of the phrase ‘the common good’ that: ‘it does not need much reflection to see that [this term has] no sufficiently definite meaning to determine a particular course of action..."
Quando si parla di felicità sacatta un riflesso condizionato e si pensa subito a politiche ambientali o di giustizia sociale. Non è così.
"...many people automatically assume that happinessbased policy would advance causes that they already champion, such as environmental protection or social justice. We saw in the previous chapter, however, that there does not appear to be any evidence that happiness-based environmental policy would offer improvements to current practice..."
Il riferimento alla felicità pone problemi etici non indifferenti, pensiamo al caso del Bhutan, ovvero del Paese che più coerentemente segue queste politiche.
"...Kingdom of Bhutan, for example, is cited approvingly by leading happiness advocates for being the first country in the world to use the concept of gross national happiness as the basis for policy. In this fortunate nation, national dress is compulsory and, until recently, television was banned..."
"...Bhutan wants to protect and maintain its culture, so the government achieves this by expelling the minority of the population which is ethnically Nepalese..."
La felicità sembra avere una forte relazione con l' invidia. L' invidia deriva da un confronto con chi ci sta vicino. La ricerca della felicità sembra penalizzare i modelli meritocratici.
"...it is only income within peer groups – among groups of people with whom one compares oneself – which determines happiness, rather than income inequality in society as a whole..."
Al momento sembrano non esserci variabili economico-sociali saldamente correlate con la felicità, ecco che allora ci si pone un dubbio.
"...even trying to increase the sum total of human happiness is an exercise in monumental futility, or that there are serious problems with measuring happiness..."
Come distinguere le politiche sociali alla luce dell' economia della felicità?
"...As Chapter 6 mentions, arguably the real dichotomy is not that of a material versus a holistic conception of welfare; it is between accepting preferences as a useful indicator of welfare, despite the acknowledged flaws of such an approach, and not doing so..."
Cosa nasconde in fondo il tentativo di introdurre misurazioni alternative al PIL?
"...until relatively recently, many well-meaning people on the left believed that the state should play an active role in the dayto- day running of industry. Following the abject failure of central planning in the Soviet bloc, there are few takers for this position today. But the reflex to reductively pinpoint capitalism as the root of all evil, the urge to intervene, the belief that the expert knows better than the ordinary person what is good for him or her, are incurable. Happiness research is one of the latest manifestations of this tendency. But, just like central planning, it is inherently flawed...".
