French president Sarkozy recently called on other countries to join a "revolution" in tracking economic progress – the happiness index. As Joshua Keating notes, that concept was pioneered by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan four years ago. Keating continues:
Skeptics can (and will) look at this new innovation as a ploy for France to "juke the stats," since its short workweek and social benefits look a lot more impressive than its GDP growth. That aside, the transformation of Sarkozy's economic message has been pretty astounding. The president came to power promising privatization and economic modernization and was lambasted by French left-wingers for his attachment to "Anglo-Saxon" economic models. But since the economic crisis (and his own popularity crisis) he's made a habit of attacking the Anglo-Saxons for their free-market orthodoxy and consulting with market-skeptics Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz on new economic indicators. Where have you gone, Sarko l'Américain?
The Dish 