Methods of Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences by Frances Fahy Henrike Rau

Author:Frances Fahy, Henrike Rau [Frances Fahy, Henrike Rau]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857025227
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 17384656
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2013-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

human happiness and well-being are not measured very well in terms of money wealth, and just as money is subservient to morality, spirituality and humanity, so economics is part of a wider ecosystem … It is an economics that broadens our definitions of wealth, rather than narrows them down to an abstraction that may or may not relate to human fulfilment. (Boyle and Simms, 2009: 18–19)

The origins of the new economics are diverse. Ruskin’s (1862) statement that ‘there is no wealth but life’ and his critique of ‘illth’ (the poverty, ill-health, pollution and despair that were the attendant downside of economic wealth) are cited as founding ideas. Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas of self-restraint, self-reliance and voluntary simplicity, and E.F. Schumacher’s ‘Buddhist economics–economics as if people really mattered’ are both influential. ‘Happiness’ entered the debate in the early 1970s when the ruler of Bhutan announced that ‘Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product’ (Thinley, 1998; NEF, 2006, 13; Priesner, 1999). Boyle and Simms (2009: 22–5) note that the ‘New Economics’ came together at The Other Economic Summit (TOES), in London in 1984. The ‘Happy Planet Index’ is one alternative aggregate measure of progress developed by the New Economics Foundation (NEF). The Happy Planet Index combines available data about ecological footprint, life expectancy and subjective life satisfaction. Countries that score highly have managed to achieve relatively long and happy lives with smaller ecological footprints (see Box 5.3).

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