Paradigm shift in economics and the implications on marketing

The traditional role of marketing has been to link the customer with the product or services. This is based on the idea that the customer will in one way or another benefit from the purchase of such a product or service. How to define benefit is another topic but it can be assumed to include quality of living, happiness, and social status among other variables.  On a national scale we measure this benefit in strictly financial terms through the indicator of GDP, Gross Domestic Product. However, as Joseph Stiglitz (winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics) argues GDP does not properly indicate the well being of a nation or even its productivity.

Instead of GDP, Stiglitz (among others) argues for a more holistic measurement such as happiness to determine the benefits produced by and for the society of a nation. This approach is neither unheard of nor impractical. Indeed the small nation of Bhutan determines its progress based on GNH, gross national happiness. and has seen this as a worthy indicator of national benefits. According to a recent article in The Guardian titled "Bhutan leads the world to a new economy of happiness" since adopting GNH life expectancy in has doubled and 99% of primary-age children are in school. The article goes on to elaborate that according to the Bhutanese government "(happiness) has nothing to do with the common use of that word to denote an ephemeral, passing mood – happy today or unhappy tomorrow due to some temporary external condition like praise or blame, gain or loss. Rather, it refers to the deep, abiding happiness that comes from living life in full harmony with the natural world, with our communities and fellow beings, and with our culture and spiritual heritage, – in short from feeling totally connected with our world." What's more GDP fails to display the benefit of natural and human capitial, and on the contrary GDP incentivizes the destruction of these assets. Clearly with all of the discontents associated with GDP as an indicator of national well-being a new system to account for progress must be adapted.

The concept that consumption for ones self-interest does not generate happiness, similarly is not a new idea and recent studies have further developed this idea. In a recently posted Ted Talk Michael Norton further elaborates on the notion that purchases for oneself bring don't generate the same amount of happiness as purchases made for others.

With the understanding that GDP is not the most appropriate indicator of national progress and that selfish purchases don't equate to happiness, its time for a shift in economic structure. Marketing will play an integral role in this shift from selfish consumption to beneficial collaboration. Marketing strategies will have to be adapted to develop and promote products that generate happiness as apposed to those that satisfy personal greed. Moreover marketing will be necessary on a macro-level in order to educate and inform the populous as to how happiness is an integral part of the marketplace.