Why Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Can't Measure "Wealth" and "Happiness"

This article is an excerpt and edit from Kazuhiro Ohara, Hiroaki Miyata, and Amane Yamaguchi's book "Theory of DX Evolution: Beyond the Rebooted World" (MDN Corporation). doing.

(Image: PIXTA)

What are the "values" necessary to build a happy future

What are things? I have long been thinking about "value" through activities that use science, such as data and related technologies, to improve reality.

So what is the value here? As I mentioned in "The Resonant Future", many communities, nations, and groups throughout human history have attempted to set core values, which are higher values, and then set specific values ​​and norms based on them. was to determine

However, the core values ​​established by such a system include conflicts and conflicts between groups as a structural issue. Moreover, conflicts of value, such as corporate and national responsibilities for environmental impact, the balance between freedom and security, and historical perceptions, will make dialogue difficult.

Thus, efforts have been made to limit the target values ​​to specific ones, such as laws and money. It cannot be ignored that there are cases where it is given.

It is true that setting social rules facilitates mutual communication. However, as a result of seeing them as absolutes, if other important values ​​are left behind, I have to say that they are inadequate.

Based on the current situation, one solution is an approach unique to a data-driven society. In other words, it is an attempt to acquire a common language for dialogue after visualizing diverse shared values ​​such as peace and security, environmental impact, anti-poverty measures, and health assurance.

For example, GDP as an indicator of affluence is only a cross-section of monetary value, and at least it has already reached its limit as a measure of our various ``richness'' and ``happiness''. I am welcoming you. Then we cannot grasp the reality of society.

In fact, the committee, which was established mainly by economist Joseph Stiglitz, mentioned the limits of GDP, and the key was to measure "objective and habitual well-being." It is said that And these claims have been made since 2009.

Why Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

If we start to think about affluence centering on well-being and the diversity of values, so to speak, "sustainable shared value," then there are various shared values ​​as a means to realize people's well-being. You will come to understand that one of them is money.

I believe that this shift in thinking will become the basis for measuring happiness in a more realistic way in society in the future. The idea of ​​being in good physical, mental, and social condition instead of the economy is a biased indicator, and it is closer to the original richness and leads to a fulfilling way of life.

However, in view of the current situation where each person's actions are connected to the community, region, country, and even the world to which they belong, the idea of ​​``I can make everyone happy if I do this'' instead of ``It's okay if only I am happy.'' requested at the same time.

I call it "Better Co-Being", and it is essential to build a happy future as multidimensional value visualized by the power of data, that is, shared value. I believe it is.

In the future data society, individual choices such as what each of us thinks, how we act, what we eat, what we wear, and what kind of work and play we do will affect each other. increase. That is why the meaning of shared value is questioned from the perspective of the coexistence of diverse affluence and whether it will lead to a sustainable society.

What is needed at that time is not a top-down type consciousness that is given from above, but a bottom-up type consciousness that each person creates a society. It can also be described as re-establishing a new social contract with the world.

In a society that aspires to better co-being, democracy, which has been supported by the traditional mechanism of choosing representatives through elections and voting, may be forced to change its way of being. yeah.

John Locke (*), who built the foundation of democracy, said, ``Individuals who are given the right to own property make a social contract with each other to create a nation.'' I imagined a social state in which However, it also seems to suggest the idea that elections are not the only means of choosing a government.

Now that technology is being implemented that allows us to reduce our decision-making to individual choices, to acknowledge that we are diverse, and to implement it, it is time to reconsider what kind of social contract we want to conclude. We come.

Instead of the conventional method of election and voting, we should use data to create a multi-layered social contract and reflect every action and choice in society. In other words, it may mean that daily life itself becomes part of democracy.

As German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to the people in her speech under the coronavirus, circulating information sharing and people's participation in society will be the engine of democracy that should be in the future. . We are required to have the attitude to realize it by utilizing data and technology.

Then, how should we approach the community, social system, or even the idea of ​​happiness itself? Or does the idea of ​​"maximum 'diversity' of happiness" that I advocate have something to do with it?

(*) A British philosopher. He is also positioned as a thinker who prepared the Age of Enlightenment.

Kazuhiro Ohara Born in 1970. He completed the Artificial Intelligence Course, Department of Applied Systems, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. After McKinsey & Company, NTT DoCoMo's i-mode business launch support, Recruit (twice), Kay Laboratory (currently KLab, Director), Corporate Direction, Cybird, Electronic Coupon Development, Opto, Google, Rakuten (Executive Officer) engaged in business planning, investment, and new business. Served as a member of the Foreign Trade Policy Committee of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and as an advisor to the Artificial Intelligence Center of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. He has authored many books, including "After Digital" (co-author, Nikkei BP), "Principles of IT Business" (NHK Publishing), "Motivation Revolution" (Gentosha NewsPicks book), and "Process Economy" (Gentosha). Co-authored with Mr. Shu Yamaguchi, "Virtual space shift" (MdN new book). Hiroaki Miyata Born in 1978. Graduated from the Department of Health Science, Faculty of Medicine, the University of Tokyo. Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Keio University School of Medicine. Specializes in data science and scientific methodology. In 2003, completed the master's course in Health Science and Nursing at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine. Doctor of health science (dissertation) in the same field. Incumbent since 2015. Conducting research aimed at social change using science, such as NCD in collaboration with the specialist system, LINE x Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare "National Survey for New Corona Countermeasures". In addition to being a theme project producer for the 2025 Japan World Exposition (Osaka/Kansai Expo), he is also a member of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Health and Medical Care 2035 Formulation Advisory Board, and a member of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Data Health Reform Promotion Headquarters Advisory Board. His publications include "Resonant Future" (Kawade Shinsho) and "Data-based Nation Theory" (PHP Shinsho). Amane Yamaguchi Born in 1970. Graduated from the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, Keio University, and the Master's program at the Graduate School of Letters, Keio University. Independent researcher, author and public speaker. Engaged in corporate strategy formulation, cultural policy formulation, and organizational development at Dentsu, Boston Consulting Group, Korn Ferryhay Group, etc. Currently CEO of Leibniz Co., Ltd., Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten Co., Ltd., and Outside Director of Mobile Factory Co., Ltd. "Why do the world's elite train their sense of beauty?" His other publications include "The Age of Newtypes" (Diamond Publishing), "The Future of Business" (President Publishing), and "Technologies for Freedom" Liberal Arts (Kodansha). * Click the image to jump to Amazon "DX Evolution Theory"
  1. Does DX make people happy? Keio University Professor Miyata's "Maximum Happiness of Diversity"
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  4. Why Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Can't Measure "Richness" and "Happiness"
  5. Thinking in the Age of DX Data Governance and Democracy
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