ECONOMICS of HAPPINESS

Last week we had an extraordinary guest lecturer: Mark Anielski, author of the book "Economics of Happiness".

Mark Anielski is an ecological economist and President of Anielski Management Inc.. a consulting firm specializing in the measurement of community well-being and sustainability. He is also Adjunct Professor of Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship at the School of Business, University of Alberta and Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Economics at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Washington. He has advised the Chinese government on how to adopt “green GDP accounting” as a way of measuring the harmonious development of China.

He really inspired us. Although the forecasted scenario is scaring, he showed us some lights of hope: Focolare Movement's Economy of Comunion, Mondragon cooperative models, Kiva, Prosper the Peer-to-peer lending, JAK the swedish bank without interest rate.... Even after his lecture he spent the whole evening chatting with us at our Learning Lab.

Preparing my exam, I found this interesting post on Economia de la Felicidad and Easterlin's Paradox and this presentation about Happiness, Economy and our Hearts, designed by Professor Andrew Oswald.