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Balancing growth and happiness

`Political, classical and Keynesian economics all point out that the goal of economics is to create a better life through management and allocation of resources, not to blindly pursue economic growth.'

International politics centers around economic topics, and Taiwan's development is at a strategic crossroads. Take for example iPhone sales. Apple Inc made a vast amount of money while the Taiwanese manufacturers of the phones received only a small portion. The question is, does Taiwan want to continue to be a manufacturing country, or move toward the new European direction of values economics or aesthetics economics?

Political, classical and Keynesian economics all point out that the goal of economics is to create a better life through management and allocation of resources, not to blindly pursue economic growth. England's New Economics Foundation also believes GDP growth and happiness ought to be looked at separately. Unfortunately, most Taiwanese only care about money. Economic growth takes priority over happiness, thereby reversing the means and ends of economics. As a result, the debate on economics normally gets hung up at the technical level, and not at the national level of strategic planning and value distribution.

For example, one important goal of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is promoting economic equality and distribution of wealth, not simply blind pursuit of economic growth.

The Monterrey Consensus calls for economic development in every country to be humane while assuring people's safety. Likewise, the Millennium Declaration states that countries pursuing growth must also reduce poverty. This shows that economic growth should not be the only goal.

Another example is the rapidly growing Chinese economy, which is only focused on the pursuit of development, will soon face serious challenges. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that China has for many years exported food products unfit for human consumption. When "Made in China" becomes a synonym for poor, and even life-threatening quality, China's export-based economy will take a big hit.

At the same time, despite Beijing's sparkling economic statistics, the Chinese are not happy. They face three major problems -- poor housing, medical services and education -- that put enormous pressure on them.

Forbes magazine's "tax misery index" lists China as third highest in the world. As a result, Chinese citizens are still sneaking overseas to find jobs, resulting in a huge number of Chinese being smuggled into Europe and North America. Even visas for Hong Kong, which lives under Beijing's"one country, two systems" formula, are coveted by Chinese. This demonstrates that GDP does not always correlate to how the average person feels about their country's economy.

Taiwan's future economic strategy should combine the special characteristics of its society, industrial environment and the trends in world markets, and pursue realistic and safe value-added development. The responsibility of the political elite is to plan a long-term approach that balances economic growth with people's happiness, and not focus purely on technical discussions about establishing a common market with China.

Only in this way can Taiwan's economy grow while also providing for peoples' happiness.

Su Tzu-yun is a doctoral student at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies.

TRANSLATED BY JASON COX
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