Measuring happiness to become official

A conference is going on in Oxford, apparently unnoticed by the British media, on how to measure happiness. It is not another dusty academic conference but includes Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate, and Francois Bourguignon, the World Bank chief economist, as speakers. The event is organised by a new think tank: the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.

It looks like the conference could lead the way for the adoption of well-being indicators worldwide. According to a report in the Times of India (30 May) the event will delve into questions such as meaning of life, autonomy, competence, desire to feel connected with others, overall life satisfaction, domain-specific life satisfaction and happiness.