debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Watch Philippe Van Parijs (University of Louvain) discuss the above topic. This talk was recorded at the conference ‘From (un)economic growth to future well-being’ organised by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Public Service Union (EPSU) in Brussels on 15th and 16th October 2012. This video is part of the European growth strategy [...]
The king of Bhutan wants to make us all happier. Governments, he says, should aim to maximize their people’s Gross National Happiness rather than their Gross National Product. Does this new emphasis on happiness represent a shift or just a passing fad? It is easy to see why governments should de-emphasize economic growth when it is proving [...]
Via a circuitous Internet chain – Paul Krugman of Princeton University quoting Mark Thoma of the University of Oregon reading the Journal of Economic Perspectives – I got a copy of an article written by Emmanuel Saez, whose office is 50 feet from mine, on the same corridor, and the Nobel laureate economist Peter Diamond. Saez and [...]
“Michelle, ma belle”, sings Paul McCartney, “these are words that go together well.” Until recently, few people would have said the same of the terms “happiness” and “public policy”? But while these words may indeed lack the poetic elegance of the Beatles classic, it is our conviction that they will be inextricably linked in the [...]
In 1995, I published a book called The World After Communism. Today, I wonder whether there will be a world after capitalism. That question is not prompted by the worst economic slump since the 1930’s. Capitalism has always had crises, and will go on having them. Rather, it comes from the feeling that Western civilization is [...]
Reading The Economist – which I confess to doing regularly – tends to arouse various emotions. Anger at a particularly galling misrepresentation of what I see as reality (e.g. trade unions, government, Europe). Resentment at the ability to change positions without confessing to past mistakes (e.g. Iraq, climate change, financial liberalisation). Powerlessness when I think [...]
In a Good Society Debate article earlier this year, Christian Kroll argued that findings from the science of well-being should be used to inform policy-making. His argument is essentially the same as those presented by Lord Richard Layard (in Happiness: Lessons from a New Science) and Derek Bok (in The Politics of Happiness). The argument [...]
I have just returned from Bhutan, the Himalayan kingdom of unmatched natural beauty, cultural richness, and inspiring self-reflection. From the kingdom’s uniqueness now arises a set of economic and social questions that are of pressing interest for the entire world. Bhutan’s rugged geography fostered the rise of a hardy population of farmers and herdsmen, and [...]
Many have argued that the current crisis of social democracy is due to the lack of a vision – so where can one look for inspiration? A new academic discipline has emerged over the last years at the intersection of economics, psychology, political science and sociology: the science of happiness. Responding to criticism of Gross [...]
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