THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS: THE CONSERVATIVE CURRENT IN GREEN ECONOMIC THOUGHT

摘要

The documentary The Economics of Happiness1 is currently playing in many countries. The award-winning film features interviews with several environmentalist authors and was produced and directed by Helena Norberg-Hodge, a well-known figure among the "localists," a movement strongly opposed to globalization. The film explores the causes of the economic crisis and the failure of the present economic system to bring prosperity and happiness to the world. It centers around the experiences in Ladakh, a region in Northern India. In an interview in the documentary, filmmaker Norberg-Hodge states that the inhabitants of Ladakh lived happily until a couple of decades ago: "There was this sort of vitality. Even the material standard of living was high: they had large houses, plenty of leisure time, there was no unemployment and no one went hungry. Of course they did not have all