Gross National Happiness

Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the former king of Bhutan decided to develop an economic model more in tune with Bhuddist teachings. The result was a new measure call Gross National Happiness. This measure is designed to have a different emphasis than the economic measure, Gross National Product. Quoting from the first Global GNH Survey:

1. Economic Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of economic metrics such as consumer debt, average income to consumer price index ratio and income distribution

2. Environmental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of environmental metrics such as pollution, noise and traffic

3. Physical Wellness: Indicated via statistical measurement of physical health metrics such as severe illnesses

4. Mental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of mental health metrics such as usage of antidepressants and rise or decline of psychotherapy patients

5. Workplace Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of labor metrics such as jobless claims, job change, workplace complaints and lawsuits

6. Social Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of social metrics such as discrimination, safety, divorce rates, complaints of domestic conflicts and family lawsuits, public lawsuits, crime rates

7. Political Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of political metrics such as the quality of local democracy, individual freedom, and foreign conflicts.

Jewish Business Ethics

The rules of the Jewish faith do not begin and end at the door of the synagogue. In the Talmud, it is written that the first question you are asked by God on entry into heaven is, “Did you conduct your business affairs honestly?” The great commentator, Ramban, wrote that you can obey all the rules of the torah to the letter, and still be repulsive and pathetic human being. The spirit of the law must be followed not the letter.
Business ethics is the arena where the ethereal transcendent teachings of holiness and spirituality confront the often grubby business of making money and being engaged in the rat race that often comprises the marketplace. It is the acid test of whether religion is truly relevant or religion is simply relegated to an isolated sphere of human activity. It is business ethics, one could posit, above all, that shows God co-exists in the world rather than God and godliness being separate and apart. From Jewish Business Ethics: An Introductory Perspective by Rabbi Yitzchok Breitowitz