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Re:Bhutan, after prioritizing happiness, now faces an existe... by Timon3 on Monday November 18, 2024 @01:09PM (#42175105)
Is there a reason to trust your anecdote instead of looking at data? I'm sure this topic has been researched.
Re:Bhutan, after prioritizing happiness, now faces an existe... by baq on Monday November 18, 2024 @02:15PM (#42175844)
Yeah it’s called the gini index. US isn’t great but isn’t anywhere near the worst.

In absolute terms though just look at pictures of e.g. rural Russia va Moscow.

Re:Bhutan, after prioritizing happiness, now faces an existe... by Timon3 on Monday November 18, 2024 @03:26PM (#42176560)
Thank you for bringing up this data point! I'm sure we both agree that's a much better argument than "trust me" :)
Re:Bhutan, after prioritizing happiness, now faces an existe... by sifar on Tuesday November 19, 2024 @04:35PM (#42188345)
I understand, however it was a disclaimer not a "trust me". One of the main reason such metrics are not as reflective of the reality is that for developing countries, the taxes are not reported accurately. A lot of wealth is officially unreported - and it is a massive amount. Such things are not captured by official statistics, by virtue of being unreported income, which leads to an incomplete or distorted picture of reality.