Law, Business and Society 11th Edition by Tony McAdams

Exercise 30

Denmark turns out to be the happiest place on Earth, according to a 2013 United Nations study of global happiness in 156 countries. The top of the happiness list includes: 1. Denmark, 2. Norway, 3. Switzerland, 4. The Netherlands, and 5. Sweden, all northern European states with strong welfare principles. The United States ranks 17th on the list, ahead of the United Kingdom (22), France (25), and Japan (43). Most of the various happiness studies find the Scandinavian countries at or near the top of the list. Why One theory, according to researchers, is that basic needs are satisfied in those countries to a higher degree than elsewhere.
What matters most Broadly, good health, education, freedom, and wealth are associated with happiness, but wealth seems to increase happiness only up to a point. According to a 2010 study, happiness basically peaks at about $75,000 in the United States, but life satisfaction keeps rising with increasing income. Another 2010 study found that getting richer, in and of itself, does not make a nation happier in the long run. Simply "hanging out" with friends and family seems to be critical to the Danes' being first in the world level of happiness. Ninety-two percent of Danes belong to some kind of social club, and the government encourages these get-togethers by helping to pay for them. Likewise, while Danes value nice things, they are said to be a "post-consumerist" society where consumption is not a high priority. Their extraordinarily high taxes (around 50 percent of income) may also play a role in the happiness quotient in that income is substantially leveled, allowing careers to be chosen more on the basis of interest rather than money and also allowing everyone to "hold his/her head high" regardless of occupational status. Finally, experts point particularly to the Danes' very high quotient of trust, which may be a product of the cradle-to-grave security provided by the government. For example, mothers often leave their babies unattended in strollers outside shops and restaurants. Of course, Denmark has the advantage of being a small, homogenous nation largely free of America's worldwide responsibilities.
Purpose A 2011 Wall Street Journal survey of happiness research raised a cautionary note by drawing a distinction between a purposeful life and a happy life. Mounting evidence suggests that people who focus on a meaningful life, while sometimes sacrificing happiness feelings in the moment, may be healthier, live longer, and have a greater sense of well being over time than people who focus on short-term feelings of happiness by eating a good meal, going to a movie, enjoying a big game, etc. Noting that symptoms of depression, paranoia, and psychopathology steadily increased in American college students from 1938 to 2007, San Diego State University researchers have offered as a plausible explanation America's increasing emphasis on pleasure, materialism, and status and decreasing attention to community and meaning in life. For noted scholar and consultant Michael Porter's Social Progress Index, a measure of "the extent to which countries provide for the social and environmental needs of their citizens," see www.sodalprogressimperative.org/.
For several decades, tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan has sought to measure itself, not by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but by Gross National Happiness (GNH), calculated from the nation's "four pillars" of sustainable development, environmental protection, cultural preservation, and good governance, each of equal importance. Alternatives to GDP measurement have captured global attention, although Bhutanese leaders have cautioned that pursuit of GNH should not distract from addressing problems of unemployment, poverty, and corruption.
Would pursuit of GNH produce a winner in today's fierce global competition Explain.