[p2p-research] People happier under Soviet-styled socialism?

[Michel Bauwens]

the high happiness rate in countries like Columbia has been linked to very
closeknit extented family systems ...

On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 5:52 AM, Andy Robinson <ldxar1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, I do wonder how much of a transition has happened in some of the
> countries.  And many of them have undergone quite drastic economic decline.
> I've also read that Iraqis consistently rate themselves as having been
> happier under Saddam than today, contrary to western expectations.
>
> If you haven't seen it yet, have a look at this:
> http://sturpedesign.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/world_map_of_happiness1.jpg
> Russia and several of its former satellites are actually in the bottom
> category, along with war-torn African states in extreme poverty, and behind
> most of the global South (despite having a much higher standard of living).
> There are also some very poor countries in the top bracket - these include
> quasi-socialist Venezuela, quasi-indigenous isolationist states Oman and
> Bhutan, and army-free Costa Rica.  In the next bracket are Colombia (why?!),
> Mongolia - another largely indigenous society - and Saudi Arabia (wtf).
> Notice welfare-state-rich Scandinavia, Benelux, New Zealand and Canada in
> the top category (along with America - as it would expect with over 50% as
> much wealth as the next contender), but Britain and France underperforming.
>
>
> Of course, the danger with happiness rankings is they're subjective - we
> don't know who people are comparing themselves to (how happy they think
> others are), whether they under- or overestimate due to cultural biases,
> whether they're happy because of ignorance or informed comparison, etc.
>
> bw
> Andy
>
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