Marriage is one of the metrics to be included in the Coalition’s soon-to-launch ‘well-being index’, as Clegg and Cameron wave away questions of social collapse to ask, with melting sincerity, if we are truly happy. But how do we measure marital bliss? And is happiness all its cracked up to be?
A new film The Economics of Happiness makes an eloquent case for a more localised economic system that forgoes ceaseless increases in GDP and delivers higher levels of wellbeing and even happiness. However, its failure to engage with defenders of GDP, big business and globalisation leave the viewe
“Keep Calm and Carry On” was the post-ironic catchphrase for Phase One of the Financial Crisis. On one level, this was a piece of nostalgic kitsch. However, to truly understand its popularity, we have to consider the ways in which the message - ‘keep calm and carry on’ - expresses perfectly the af
While the Cameroon Conservatives re-draw the state, emphasising the role of the individual, popular culture propagates the myth of the self-made star. Psychology is the zeitgeist - but can society's deep-rooted problems be dealt with on the level of the individual?
What is progress? Could our societies grow richer but everyone get more miserable? Is output the best measure of a nation's success? Such questions bring OurKingdom and openEconomy together to launch the Happiness Debate, which opens with an essay by Will Davies on the relationship between happine
