Happiness is really important, for an effective, relevant, working justice system.

Trust is key for happiest people in world

As economists probe better ways to measure well-being than pure wealth, they say the Danes — who are also among the world’s most prosperous people — have a tradition of equality and trust that is not widely replicated……….

OECD economist Justina Fischer — a German who has studied subjective well-being and its societal and economic correlations for many years — puts Denmark’s happiness down to the fact that people consume a relatively equal share of the wealth they generate, and trust each other.

“Denmark is one of the countries with the highest level of trust among people,” she said. In other countries, people are more cynical about institutions from government to business, as well as each other…………….

Exactly how the Danes became so trusting of each other is not clear, but it may have been inherited through generations, said professor and self-styled happiness researcher Christian Bjornskov at the University of Aarhus.

“We believe that the origin of this trust can be traced far back. Possibly back to some Viking norms,” Bjornskov said, adding these assumptions were speculative.

As an indication, he said surveys have shown that the descendants of those Scandinavians who emigrated to the United States in the 19th century generally are the most trustful Americans today.

The OECD’s Fischer noted that economists have found a positive correlation between trust and economic growth.

“If you trust someone in a market transaction you have lower transaction costs. You do not even have to have a contract because you trust his or her words. So you have no contract costs, you have no enforcement cost.”

Bjornskov said Danish trust is very clearly connected with a better economy and a better competitive position.

“It means that the judicial system functions better in Denmark, education works better than in a lot of other countries. The trust contributes to the happiness, but it also contributes to concrete economic results,” he said.

I hope that this article persuades you to make justice/law and order a significant election issue. We need constructive action, not ongoing hollow promises.

Labour have tended to appoint weak, ineffectual non legally trained ministers of justice. National have tended to appoint legal workers as minister of justice. Both fail to serve the proper needs of the public, where there is conflict with the financial interests of legal workers.

Protect your interests, at the voting booth.

Cheers, MurrayBacon.