Le Temps - blog (France):
Our societies pushed to the error by the GDP. When will we decide to change it?
15 April 2018
Bhutan refers to gross national happiness; in Switzerland, 25 complementary indicators to GDP have been selected. The "economists of happiness" (such as Richard Layard of the London School of Economics) believe that the pursuit of utility has been confused with the maximization of consumption and GDP, losing sight of the finality of things. 20 years ago, a California resident of Basel, Mathis Wackernagel, came up with the crucial notion of ecological footprint, establishing the relationship between natural productivity and our use of resources. According to this calculation basis, the Federal Statistical Office has found that "Swiss consumption per person is 3.3 times greater than the total environmental benefits and resources available per person".