Conexión Del Sensor De Fuerza

Another approach to understanding the desirability of economic growth is to review its impact on social welfare when social welfare is considered, not as preference satisfaction as above, but rather as increased well-being / happiness.

Jevons (1871) noted that happiness and welfare are identical (see Ng 2001 for a more recent statement of this position). In an ideal economic world, happiness would be measured by utils:

…it is conceivable that, perhaps several thousands (or million) years from now, neurology may have advanced to a stage where the level of happiness can be accurately correlated to some cerebel reaction which can be measured by a “eudaimonometer”. (Ng 1979, p. 5)

However it is not an ideal economic world and such measurements are not possible (though work has begun – see Williams 2000).

Hirsch (1995), Watchel (1989), and Easterlin (1973) draw on surveys undertaken over a period of years and in a number of different countries (developed and undeveloped) which indicate that happiness is not tied to absolute income levels (also see Ng 1999; Fellowes 1999). Rather, most people judge their positions in society in relation to other people (Hirsch 1995; Kakwani 1997a). These surveys show that in the U.S.A. the year in which people described themselves as very happy peaked in 1957 despite GDP more than trebling since then.

In comparisons between countries, there is a close correlation between happiness and relative wealth, not absolute wealth; wealthier people claim they are happier than the poor (see Saunders 1996; also Gerdtham and Johannesson 2001). However, those in poorer countries do not judge themselves to be any less happy than those in wealthier countries. ‘What matters ... is less one’s own present income than the present and past incomes of other people’ (Hirsch 1995, p. 36 – also see Atkinson 1983a; Kanbur 1987; Thurow 1980; Clayton and Radcliffe 1996). This is an echo of John Stuart Mill’s statement in the 19th century, ‘Men do not desire to be rich, but to be richer than other men’ (Daly 1991, p. 188; also see Frank 1999). In a similar vein, Potter (1954) observed that Americans judge their worth not from where they are but from where they began. If an increase in wealth leads to happiness it is only a temporary situation, a disequilbrium of sorts. ‘Happiness is not the result of being rich, but a temporary consequence of having recently becoming richer’ (Inglehart 1990 cited in Myers 1999, p. 3). Equilibrium will soon return and peoples’ levels of satisfaction will subsequently fall. Pusey (1998) notes that happiness is the normal human condition and thus evidence from surveys, which find that people in poor countries are just as happy as those in rich countries, have not debunked a myth regarding wealth and happiness. Such results have simply proven that the state of happiness is by and large the normal state of existence.

‘We would then expect average self rated happiness to be constant over time’ (Brekke 1997, p. 115). This process is described as an adaptive mechanism (Travers and Richardson 1993; Ng 2001). Even amongst the most appalling conditions, happiness will be found in small mercies (Sen 1990).

Accordingly, there are no real benefits from economic growth if social welfare is measured by happiness. Regardless of the increases in personal consumption, the adaptive mechanism will result in people’s wel-being remaining at a general equilibrium. This is particularly the case in developed countries whose population have attained a basic level of need.

Hirsch (1995) distinguishes between material goods and services and positional goods and services. The former are those goods and services that can be mass produced (such as cars and clothes). The latter are limited in a real sense (such as sea-side properties and professorships). Further material goods will not increase happiness, only unobtainable positional goods will (Hirsch 1995 – also see Durning 1982; Winch 1971; Galtung et al.1982). Indeed, the resultant disappointment when these material goods fail to increase happiness can actually be detrimental to social welfare. This is the Paradox of Affluence (Hirsch 1995). Cochrane and Shaw Bell (1956) also noted the tendency for aspirations to run ahead of fulfillment (also see Abrams 1973). ‘The ancient moralists have all held Man then should limit his desires, that the pursuit of ever more goods and services as folly, bound to make men wicked and miserable’ (De Jouvenal 1969, p. 101).

For countries such as Thailand, the same remains true, additional material goods fail to increase happiness. One of the effects of globalisation on countries such as Thailand is that the relative standards and reference points of expectations for all levels of society can become those of the United States (Department of Treasury 1973; Max Neef 1991; Cochrane and Bell 1956). Therefore, an additional cost of economic growth may be the disappointment of unrealised unrealistic expectations (Hutanuwatr 1998; Muzaffar 1998; Schaumacher 1993a, 1993b). Additional income may be necessary simply to maintain static levels of happiness (Ng 2001; Parris 1997). However, if happiness is an adaptive

emotion, then it is difficult to imagine that social welfare has increased as dramatically within Thailand as would be suggested by increases in national income or consumption. For many, the increases in economic growth have lifted them above poverty lines, which must bring increased pleasure. But for those seeking increased social welfare through the attainment of material goods, disappointment will occur when comparing their lifestyles to western standards. Using this method it is difficult to gauge whether economic growth has been desirable or not within Thailand.

2.5.3 Measuring Social Welfare by Alternative Measures: In Theory and in