RogerPol law considers that an index full

In the "Echos" from May 13, Roger-Pol law considers that an index "full", designed to enhance or replace GDP, could be one of the "détraquement".

As creator of the index of global happiness and the index of the NBB to the French, I wish to defend the work of those who do not meet the GDP as the sole indicator of growth and development. GDP is a useful, but insufficient. Because it excludes from its scope any which has no monetary value, starting with human life. The agreement is so General on this finding that the decision of Nicolas Sarkozy to appoint a commission of Nobel Prize winners"to find a solution to this problem has been praised by all. Then, work already done to go further than GDP are unanimously hailed as interesting and useful, as for example the index of the UNDP human development (IDH).

The HDI is constructed from three elements: the GDP per head, the life expectancy at birth and the level of training of young people and adults. Who can deny the importance of these three elements to measure the development of the populations concerned But who can deny also that other indicators would be useful to measure well-being and collective happiness

It is not to measure individual happiness of the people: this is probably impossible, except by asking interested parties, for example asking them to lie on a scale of happiness ranging from 1 to 10. This is called the subjective method. With regard to collective happiness, the method is different: it uses statistical aggregates. For example, measure the global happiness and happiness by country, to aggregate a large number of meaningful indicators. Of course, we must first define these notions, which is not very difficult: a happy world, a happy country, it is a world that lives in peace and security; It is a world which lives in democracy and freedom, in the respect of human rights; It is a world where the quality of life is high, and where the culture in the broad sense is shared by all.

From these four main chapters, a battery of indicators allows to know, from year to year, if our world, if our country is a little better or a little worse. I the idea of sanctifying the growth rate of my index of global happiness (7 to 8 of best since 2000). I also the idea to argue that, when countries such as the Sweden and the Norway are at the top of my classification by country, their inhabitants are necessarily the happiest in the world. But, according to the subjective method method statistical aggregates, are still the northern countries of Europe, accompanied by the Australia, the Canada and the Switzerland, arriving in mind, the United States is far behind, and it is always the Burma, accompanied by sub-Saharan African countries, close walking...

If everyone agrees to recognize the weaknesses of the GDP, should we not do something to enrich this flag or to go beyond Then, it will resolve to accept the point of view of the "revolutionaries of the status quo" On the contrary, researchers working on the measurement of happiness want to improve a situation criticised by all. Is it not interesting to try to find out that the crisis will mean beyond GDP, in the next few years More violent deaths and suicides More refugees More children who More major armed conflicts More than dictatorships and less freedom of the press The next index in the world happiness of 2010 will tell!