Question

5. The Beatles claimed that “I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love.” (Shortly after first making this claim they joined the ranks of the richest people in the world.) Does their claim undermine the use of GDP to measure welfare? Explain

Answer 1

In my opinion Beatles claim has undermine the use of GDP to measure welfare. If we study the current World Happiness index it shows that high GDP per capita does not immediately results to a higher happiness index. It indicates that the richer is not necessarily the happiest. Thus, besides income, there are other vital factors such as levels of peace and the degrees of corruption that contribute to people's happiness besides money. However nations that experience increase in GDP per capita also tend to experience happiness growth across waves in the World Value Survey. The rich nations tend to be happier than poorer countries; and similarly richer people within a nation tend to be happier than poorer people in the same nation. The relationship between GDP and happiness displays that GDP is not the only the significant thing in determining government policy, governments must consider all other aspects to enhance the well-beings of their citizens