Redefining Well-being: Moving Beyond Money and GDP

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This chapter challenges the notion that economic indicators like money and GDP are true measures of well-being. It highlights the importance of social capital and the negative consequences of neglecting investments in community spaces. It also discusses the growing interest in happiness economics and the need for policymakers to prioritize people's happiness over mere economic indicators.

We're distrustful, unequal and isolated. That's according to the figures showing a decline in happy community feeling since the 1960s. But can we do anything to regain the healthier communal lives enjoyed by many of our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents?

We talk to a hopeful trio - an economist, a political scientist and a US senator - about how we can reduce social isolation, temper political division and prioritize the kind of mixing and meeting that makes neighbors into friends.