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Dear Readers,
If you have been following the U.S. Presidential campaign of Andrew
Yang, you may be aware that Leadership of the Democrat Party in Iowa
noted that “Mr. Yang has the most detailed and comprehensive set of
policy proposals we have ever seen at this stage in the campaign.”
As one who has been voter for over four decades, I believe it may be
fair to say that Mr. Yang has the most detailed and comprehensive
set of policy proposals that I have ever seen at any stage of a
campaign.
Fortunately, as Mr. Yang details his ideas, vision and policy
proposals on a wide variety of subjects, voters can begin to have a
national conversation on them and I will be writing a series of
articles covering a number of his proposals of which this is the
first.
I was particularly intrigued by his vision to change the way we
measure the health of our economy, from GDP and the stock market to
a more inclusive set of measurements that ensures humans are
thriving, not barely surviving. Mr. Yang’s idea to create a new
measurement brings to mind the ancient Greek concept of “Eudaimonia,”
perhaps best translated as “human flourishing” and is derived from
words meaning “good spirit.”
GDP, an abbreviation for Gross Domestic Product, by contrast, was
never intended as a comprehensive measurement of human flourishing,
nor even as a comprehensive measurement of the health of the
economy, but rather was conceived as one of a number of indicators
of the health of the economy. However, oversimplified thinking led
some to equate GDP with overall national economic health which in
turn oftentimes leads to the fallacious corollary that GDP is
necessarily an indicator of human flourishing. Considering that
there are many factors not included in the GDP calculation, such as
whether people are earning a living wage, Mr. Yang is correct in
noting that GDP cannot be expected to be a measurement of human
flourishing.
Mr. Yang proposes creating a new measurement, stating “We need to
evolve our measurements of economic value to include things that
matter to us,” noting also that this will provide “a clearer and
more powerful sense of how we are doing both individually and as a
society.” He suggests that a new measurement would include factors
such as Median Income, Standard of Living, Health-adjusted Life
Expectancy, Mental Health, Childhood Success Rates, Social and
Economic Mobility, Absence of Substance Abuse, levels of criminal
activity, among others.
Some countries have already created such a measurement, with the
Netherlands developing a “Wellbeing Index,” and while Mr. Yang has
not yet decided upon a name for his new measurement, he likens the
concept to an “American Scorecard.”
As an aside, in a witty play on President Trump’s famous MAGA hats
(Make America Great Again), Mr. Yang’s supporters sport MATH hats
(Make America Think Harder). It occurs to me that as many words have
more than one meaning, MATH is also an acronym for Make America
Thrive Holistically, which also supports Mr. Yang’s policies.
Whatever descriptor Mr. Yang ultimately decides upon for his new
measurement, he can’t go wrong using MATH as a multi-entendre
subtitle!
What do you think of Mr. Yang’s proposal to create a new measurement
to describe the economy and human flourishing Comments and questions
are welcome: ecj2@cynthiascenturies.net
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