Knowledge@wharton

The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister David Cameron plans to create a national well-being index. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has formed a team that includes two Nobel Prize-winning economists to come up with a system for measuring the nation’s well-being. In China happiness indexes have become so popular that cities there compete for the title of China’s happiest city. Many now argue that purely economic measures of a country’s progress -- such as gross national product (GDP) -- fail to count many things people value highly such as personal and community relationships or a healthy environment. To learn more about measuring happiness Knowledge at Wharton spoke with Nic Marks author of the e-book The Happiness Manifesto: How Nations and People Can Nurture Well-Being. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.