Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/71010

KEYWORDS : well-being;GDP;wealth index;cross-country comparison

To what degree can money buy happiness? To what degree is money important to our lives? This paper examines 24 indices proffered as alternatives to GDP in measuring national wealth or well-being. We present these indices and examine their components and background. For illustrative purposes, with each index we construct cross-country comparisons for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. While we do not make any normative evaluations of these indices, we seek to provide an overview of these indices and lay the groundwork for discussing which index can serve as the most plausible alternative for measuring national wealth and well-being.