Measure What We Really Want

In his article, "Beyond Bailouts, Let's Put Life Ahead of Money" in YES! Magazine (Winter 2009), David Korten observes...

"The only legitimate function of an economic system is to serve life. At present, however, we assess economic performance solely against financial indicators — gross domestic product and stock prices — while disregarding social and environmental consequences. We are now paying the price for years of managing the economy for financial performance, which translates into making money for people who have money — that is, making rich people richer. It was not a wise choice. We now bear the devastating costs of this foolishness in the form of massive social and environmental damage and financial instability.

"This might be a good time to start evaluating economic performance against indicators of what we really want — healthy children, families, communities, and natural systems. This would place life values ahead of money values and dramatically reframe the public policy side of our economic decision-making. Happiness, by the way, is an important indicator of physical and psychological health."

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