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Ammon News - By Yusuf Mansur
The GDP simply measures the value added in an economy in a year. It is a measure of production and consumption in market transactions. It does not measure the distribution of income, and may be biased against sustainable development since the GDP as a measure does not allude to the conservation of stock (environment, resources, etc.), and in Jordan, has little reference to work and employment.

Governments and people seek not only economic growth but overall welfare and happiness for society. The Kingdom of Bhutan established such an index in 2008 and is popularising its use; it already wrote to the UN to accept it as an international measure. Jordan can have its own Gross National Happiness Index (GNHI), a measure that goes far beyond the GDP.

Why does Jordan need such an indicator? Indicators, in general, determine policies; embody values not simply international development trends; capture the imagination of a people and help convince masses about the direction the country is taking in terms of development goals; are tools for accountability; move society in a certain direction to help formulate policy agendas and actions.

The GDP, Jordan’s prime measure of welfare does not do this. Furthermore, turmoil in Arab countries that traditionally have enjoyed high GDP and GDP per capita is now commonplace. The traditional friendly frown upon the face of almost every Jordanian was there even when the economy was booming in terms of GDP growth. Moreover, when the GDP was in a state of surge, unemployment was rising, especially among the youth, and income disparities increased among the top 10 per cent and lowest 10 per cent of earners.

The GNHI can measure such matters and alert policy makers. If done properly, the GNHI may be the best early warning system the country could have.

What are the components of the GNHI?

Jordan may have a readymade happiness index in the GNH suggested by Bhutan, which has the following nine components: psychological well-being, time use (leisure versus work activities), community vitality, culture dialect, health status, educational attainment, environmental diversity, living standard (includes income, food security, housing and hardship indicators), and governance (includes trust in government and its institutions). Each of these components has several subcomponents and indices that can be compiled over time.

The GNHI mixes both objective and subjective criteria and is based on nationwide sampling, in addition to objective data that has been regularly generated and compiled.

Jordan’s Department of Statistics already does many such measurements. Therefore, since several components of the index are ably conducted and tested in Jordan, all that is needed is to conduct further measurements and compile the whole into one index that measures the happiness of Jordanians.

True, the design of the method and process for the first index would require a gargantuan national effort, but it is relatively easy to do given the recent developments in our knowledge and data of the country’s economy and Jordanians. All that would be needed would be to design and compile this index to start measuring why Jordanians are happy or unhappy yesterday, today and tomorrow.

The upshot is a significant policy tool that will help the government and the governed chart a happier tomorrow for Jordan.

Furthermore, it can become an underpinning for policy makers and the nation to design a grassroots-based new National Agenda, one whose sole purpose is greater welfare of Jordanians, measured not by the simple archaic GDP but by a robust methodology that aims to enhance true welfare and happiness.

ymansur@enconsult.com