Community Portal May 2010

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Community Portal from May 2010

In the Spotlight: The Rise and Fall of the G.D.P.

The Rise and Fall of the G.D.P. (New York Times 10.05.2010)

Whatever you may think progress looks like — a rebounding stock market, a new house, a good raise — the governments of the world have long held the view that only one statistic, the measure of gross domestic product, can really show whether things seem to be getting better or getting worse. G.D.P. is an index of a country’s entire economic output — a tally of, among many other things, manufacturers’ shipments, farmers’ harvests, retail sales and construction spending. It’s a figure that compresses the immensity of a national economy into a single data point of surpassing density. The conventional feeling about G.D.P. is that the more it grows, the better a country and its citizens are doing. In the U.S., economic activity plummeted at the start of 2009 and only started moving up during the second half of the year. Apparently things are moving in that direction still. In the first quarter of this year, the economy again expanded, this time by an annual rate of about 3.2 percent.

Community Notice Board

The community notice board is a place for the community to interact. Feel free to post questions and comments here.

Wikiprogress is getting ready for a new design and we want YOUR help! The new mainpage will include a rotating banner of photographs that represent progress. See examples on the wikiprogress Flickr account. If you have a photograph that represents progress and would like it to feature on the site, please email it to info@wikiprogress.org with a brief description of how the images captures progress. You can also comment on our selection of photographs and tell us what you think about them.

A few details:

Due to the new layout, photographs should be around 1000 x 200 in measurement

Photographs should not have any form of copyright restrictions

Media

See in the section below contains news articles and blogs that have been released this month.

Progress in the News (May 2010)

Costa Rica looks to Bhutan for happiness (The Bhutan Observer 31.05.2010)

Costa Rica is consulting with Bhutan for how to remain among the happiest places on earth.

Money isn't everything (New Zealand Herald 27.05.2010)

A richer economy doesn't always equate with wellbeing and happiness, writes Rosie Walford.

China 2020: Double and Quadruple Happiness (Q-Finance 19.05.2010)

China has a remarkable and unmatched 30-year track record of doubling and quadrupling its gross domestic product.

Happiness beats GDP gauge (New Zealand Herald 17.05.2010)

Governments around the world are moving away from relying on GDP alone to measure the success of their people, says a University of Auckland researcher.

Is the Internet the Secret to Happiness? (Time 14.05.2010)

When it comes to mental health, the Internet gets a bad rap. There are countless studies that suggest regular access to the Internet is linked to stress, anxiety and addiction.

Reclusive Bhutan sees economic growth halve: World Bank (AFP 14.05.2010)

Economic growth in Bhutan, a country that famously measures its wellbeing by Gross National Happiness, slowed sharply last year to six percent as tourist numbers fell, the World Bank says.

U.S. Wellbeing Ties Highest Level Recorded (13.05.2010 Gallup News)

Americans' wellbeing score climbed to 67.0 in April, the highest level so far in 2010 and tying the all-time high scores found in August 2009 and February 2008 for this measure initiated in January 2008.

Indigenous Peoples Still Among Poorest in World, but Progress Reported in Some Countries (World Bank News 12.05.2010)

Indigenous Peoples worldwide continue to be among the poorest of the poor and continue to suffer from higher poverty, lower education, and a greater incidence of disease and discrimination than other groups, according to a new World Bank study: Indigenous Peoples, Poverty, and Development.

Beyond G.D.P. (New York Times 11.05.2010)

Does our quality of life improve when our economy grows by 2 percent?

Moving from wealth (Kuensel Online 11.05.2010)

The concept of Gross National Happiness dates back to the birth of the United States

N.Y. quality of life is in a nosedive (Times Union 09.05.2010)

Not long ago, when banks were failing and Wall Street tanked, working people bailed them out with our tax dollars.

Bernanke Tells Students Money Alone Doesn't Buy Happiness (NASDAQ 07.05.2010)

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had a warning for students Saturday: Money alone won't buy you happiness.

Facebook statuses reveal happiness (CNN 06.05.2010)

Facebook has extended its "Gross National Happiness" prototype app to 18 new countries. The app analyzes words in status updates like "awesome" or "tragic" to track changes in the collective emotional state of its users.

The Five Essential Elements of Wellbeing (The Gallup Management Journal 04.05.2010)

What differentiates a thriving life from one spent suffering?

Blogs on Progress (May 2010)

The Gross Domestic Problem (Open Economy 31.05.2010)

Measuring activity better than GDP does is good but is no panacea

Gross National Happiness (Huffington Post 19.05.2010)

While the notions of Gross National Product (GNP) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dominate the American political and economic landscapes, Bhutan employs notions of "Gross National Happiness" to determine how it fares as a nation.

Alternative measures to US GDP to air this summer (Social Capital Blog 17.05.2010)

The NYT Magazine section (5/16/10) had a long article describing efforts of economists and other social scientists to develop measures for the US that go beyond GDP.

Rethinking GDP (Al Jezeera Blog 17.05.2010)

Gross Domestic Product - is a concept not much discussed outside economic circles.

The Gross Domestic Product, and What Makes It Gross — Part II (Brookfield Patch 14.05.2010)

Happiness, unlike income, is hard to measure. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try... or leave it for the Bhutanese to figure out. "Happiness Studies" has gone mainstream and has major supporters in the supposedly "dismal science" of economics.

Joseph Stiglitz – Problems with GDP as an Economic Barometer (The Latest 12.05.2010)

Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz proposes alternatives to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measurement of national economic success.

World Bank Opens Up Development Data (Future Gov 11.05.2010)

he portal data.worldbank.org will give policymakers access to more than 2000 financial, business, health, economic and human development statistics, information that was previously exclusive to paying subscribers.

Calculating Happiness (The Dartmouth 07.05.2010)

Are Dartmouth students happy? That depends, of course, on how we define happiness. Measured in units of consumption and standard of living, we seem a safe bet. But happiness isn’t that simple.