Some of us, however, do not.

The Gross National Product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and ambulance to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails for the people who break them. GNP includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads. And if GNP includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of our education, or the joy of our play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, or the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our pubic officials. GNP measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. Speech by Robert Kennedy, University of Kansas, March 18, 1968

Fortunately, there is solid, if nascent, study in the U.S. and internationally, taking place that goes beyond current economic indicators used for the Gross National Product (GNP). The pursuit of happiness is no longer being limited to personal quests or fairy tale endings of “forever after”. It has become the mission of economists and national governments and is a journey that is affecting the course of globalization by offering a dramatic alternative to the way national wealth is currently being measured. As a result, happiness is growing beyond the personal to being a quantifiable and substantive national attribute.