Sustainability, Economics, and Ethics (SEE)
Human development, happiness and Sustainability
On October 11, the Sustainability, Economics and Ethics research group of IQS held another day of its outreach activities known as “SEEminar”. Led by Dr. Tadashi Hirai, the talk focused on the intersection between human development, happiness and sustainability. During the presentation, Hirai addressed the evolution of the human development approach, an alternative to traditional economic development that puts human well-being at the center of growth and social progress goals.
Inspired by Amartya Sen's influential book “Development as Freedom,” Hirai explained how human development seeks to expand people's capabilities, as opposed to conventional GDP-based metrics. He also highlighted the importance of the Human Development Index (HDI), which has been a benchmark for more than three decades for measuring progress from a more inclusive human perspective.
Happiness, Trust and Participation
A significant part of the presentation was devoted to the relationship between human development and happiness. According to Hirai, recent studies suggest that happiness and well-being are crucial components that should be integrated into human development. In his research, Hirai has explored how trust and citizen participation in adversarial environments, such as the case of Ukraine, impact people's subjective well-being.
Sustainable Development
SEEminar also addressed the need to adjust human development indicators to reflect planetary boundaries. Hirai and other researchers have recently developed the “planetary pressure-adjusted HDI” and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index, which assess progress not only in human terms, but also in relation to ecological sustainability.
Finally, Hirai highlighted the policy challenges in implementing alternative approaches such as human development and the SDGs. The presentation concluded with a call to policymakers to adopt development approaches that maintain a balance between economic growth and human well-being on a sustainable planet.