, Columnist
New Zealand’s ‘Well-Being’ Budget Is Worth Copying
To succeed, it has to respect the role economic growth plays in making people happy.
It beats sitting in traffic.
Photographer: Hannah Peters/Getty Images
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New Zealand’s Labour coalition government has done something that could prove historic. Led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, it has produced the world’s first “well-being” budget, focused explicitly on a single goal: using its limited funds to promote the well-being of its citizens.
Among other things, a lot of money will be devoted to three problems: mental illness, child poverty and family violence.