Comment by tomsaffell | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tomsaffell | Hacker News Reader

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>we could all live better with a lower GDP, is it not?

Yes and No. GDP is a measure of production, expressed in dollars. However, when GDP growth is computed, changes in the value of money do not have an effect. E.g. GDP growth from year-1 to year-2 is:

  (volume produced in year 2)*(prices in year 1)
  /
  (volume produced in year 1)*(prices in year 1)

So reducing the price of something does not in-of-itself have an effect on GDP growth (or GDP stated in nominal terms). However, it's often the case that reducing the price of something means that there is more demand for, so more is produced, so (volume produced in year n+1) goes up, so GDP grows.

Summary: if the price of energy is reduced it will most likely lead to GDP growth - whether we could all then live better lives, I don't know. I'd like to hear a good holistic explanation of why GDP growth is required for national happiness..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gdp - see 'Adjustments to GDP'

I can give you a good holistic explanation for why GDP growth alone is not required for national happiness. According to some, Nordic countries tend to be happier. They have the highest taxes, they work less, have virtual universal health care, but at the same time, on a per capita and per hour basis, they're virtually just as productive. Not that I blindly favor such policies here, but I don't know, maybe there's something to be learned from them. They seem to have had stable growth since the 80s. (Note: I really want to stable "stable.")

The Nordic countries are ethnically homogeneous with rooted communities. They have high average IQs and very low crime. I'd read a lot more into that than anything to do with economic or healthcare policy. The somewhat nordic Minnesota is also fairly "happy" despite its American economic system. Maybe you should be advocating policies that steer the country to being homogeneously white, middle class, and immobile? Somehow I doubt it.

Perhaps you can point me to some sources on which you base your argument?

I'd like to read some more into this at some point. Thanks.

Nordic countries tend to be happier

It's all a ruse. The Nordics simply have deep-rooted cultural proclivities to lie about how happy they are.

That would explain why the nordic populations in the upper mid-west are similarly "happy"...

Indeed...

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