Esqueça o PIB. Dinheiro não traz felicidade?

Fortunately, there are new, direct indicators of well-being. In the past decade, psychologists, neuroscientists, and behavioral economists have performed an enormous amount of research into personal satisfaction and happiness. It turns out that beyond a relatively low threshold, more money doesn't make us much happier. Far more important are things like relationships, engaging work, meaning and purpose in life - none of which show up in the tables of the Quarterly Services Survey. That's why two prominent social scientists, Ed Diener of the University of Illinois and Martin E. P. Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, have proposed creating a national index of well-being.

All we need to do is collect the data. For instance, we can now tabulate how much cell phone sales add to GDP. But have these phones made us more stressed out because we can no longer elude our evil boss or annoying brother-in-law? Or have they made us feel more secure because we know we can call for help if we're stranded? Let's ask. Some people wring their hands over how much the US spends on health care. But what if we measured to what extent new drugs and medical technologies improved the quality of people's lives? Maybe the expense would look like a bargain. Assemble measures like these into a national well-being index and, in tandem with revamped economic indicators, it could generate a higher-res picture of the national condition.