In Chapter 2, in the "Focus' section, the book discusses the topic: 'Unemployment and Happiness'. Relevant to this are the following two links:

• The United Nations' HDI ranking: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/. You can use this resource to compare the situation of a "Low Human Development" country and a "Very High Human Development" country (click on the name of a country to obtain the information).http://hdr.undp.org/en/data(Links to an external site.)
• OECD Newsroom, "OECD welcomes experts' call on need for new measures of social progress": http://www.oecd.org/document/11/0,3343,en_21571361_44315115_43684683_1_1_1_1,00.html. This press release outlines the procedures followed by the OECD commission in charge of reviewing and improving current national statistics. http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/oecdwelcomesexpertscallonneedfornewmeasuresofsocialprogress.htm(Links to an external site.)

Discussion Question: In the past, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been criticized as inaccurate and lacking in measuring the true state of an economy and society. On the other hand, based on the 'Focus' article, it would seem that maybe there is a link between major economic indicators like unemployment and happiness. What do you think? What factors would you suggest as alternates? Why did you pick factors?How would you suggest these factors should be measured?