|
|
|
|
|
|
by pedanticfreak
5622 days ago
|
|
|
I find it interesting they make up a bunch of metrics which they claim are related to happiness rather than just asking people whether they are happy. It's as if I said I was happy and someone responded "What? You only make $50,000 per year, your country's GDP to pollution ratio is 4.25, and you had 2.13 medical procedures last year at a 26.7 percent premium over the global average, you CAN'T be happy!" Wouldn't it make more sense to figure out which people actually are happy then figure out the statistical correlations? Although from what I've read there aren't any meaningful correlations. Happiness is defined and continuously redefined by experience. |
|
|
Without any empirically verifiable data, you've basically got an index that's hugely dependent upon subjective perceptions and influenced by cultural views of how one ought to feel.
Does anyone really believe that Europeans are less "well-rested" than the Chinese who work 12 hour days to put cheap consumer goods on their tables? Is greater American scepticism about "working hard gets you ahead" because Chinese society is more meritocratic and entrepreneur-friendly, or because the Chinese have a greater cultural imperative to work hard? Is it fierce patriotism rather than a lack of violent political dissent in the past few years that leaves Thais more confident in their judiciary, finances and free choice than Westerners? And do the British really have little more reason to be confident in their financial institutions than the Zimbabweans, or are we just a nation of cynics?