Hey readers, this week we asked "What really makes people happy?"
It may seem a strange question to ask in the middle of a pandemic. But plotting a path to recovery from the coronavirus has given governments an opportunity to rethink how they measure success.
Traditionally, the equation was fairly basic: wealth is good, more wealth is better. But the spoils have not been shared equally. As the human impact of the pandemic hits home, politicians around the world face growing calls to prioritize people over productivity.
While we wait to go back to "normal," there’s evidence that people may not want to return to a normal which wasn’t working for them in the first place. In France, 69% of people polled by the newspaper Libération said they wanted to slow down the pursuit of profit in a post-COVID world. And in Britain, fewer than one in ten want life to return to exactly how it was before.
As the pandemic exposes fault lines and inequalities in societies worldwide, it’s bringing fresh calls to create economies that work for everyone. And that means defining success differently — not by conventional markers of economic growth, but by measuring social good, environmental sustainability, health and happiness.
What do you think? We'd love to hear from you. Cheers, Laura, Amanda and Kyla | 
