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Abstract

In this paper we reflect on the transnational discourse on national WellBeing and Happiness (WBH) which has gained international prominence with the 2012 United Nations Conference. Although for quite some time the studies on WBH have been on the agenda of international bodies, we see the post-2007 proliferation and transnational convergence of well-being initiatives, particularly those aimed at measuring wellbeing through indicators, as potentially replacing the development discourse of the post-war period in terms of normative force and appeal. Aiming to unpack such normative appeal, we focus on three sites, the UK, Bhutan and Ecuador, and ask what well-being and happiness mean in each context. While a critique of growth as an end in itself appears to be common to these three sites, there are crucial differences in terms of both how Well-Being and Happiness are conceptualised, and the ways in which this understanding is able to affect policy-making and engender socio-economic change. At stake, we argue, is the appreciation of what the co-production between economic and non-economic spheres of life would generate. Our aim is to emphasise that, what the focus on convergence leaves out and what the turn to measurement says about the potential of well-being initiatives

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