Globalizing Unhappiness

A new film, “The Economics of Happiness”, explores how globalization has resulted in crises of the economy, the environment and the human spirit — and points the way to a new path. Not only does having more stuff and making more money not make us happier, but our consumer culture, driven by the engine of globalization, has resulted in an economic and environmental crisis — and, the film’s creators say, a crisis of the human spirit. The story of the tiny Himalayan region of Ladakh, a remote mountain community bordering Tibet, shows the impact of exposure to the outside world.