Nigeria And The Misery Index: Not A Miserable Country By Reuben Abati | Sahara Reporters

In a Report titled The Misery Index 2018 authored by Dr. Steve Hanke of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, Nigerians have been labelled the sixth most miserable people in the world. The misery index was introduced in the 1970s by Arthur Okun, an American economist, author of the seminal work, Equality and Efficiency:

First, the Misery Index makes the point very clear that economic growth is linked to the people’s prosperity and happiness. Countries that suffer from stagflation are likely to have very miserable citizens.

There is also no doubt that the Nigerian economy has gone through major contractions in the last five years. The sharp drop in the spot price of oil depleted the country’s reserves, created a foreign exchange crisis and soon resulted in recession. In 2016, Nigeria faced the consequences of a negative growth of up to 2.3 %; in 2017, inflation was as high as 18%.

I think there are gaps in the Hanke Misery Index in terms of the parameters adopted; perhaps a more holistc assessment of the connection between economic growth and a people’s response as individuals and communities may have shown that economic prosperity and growth do not necessarily guarantee a people’s happiness. There may well be more misery in all the developed countries of Central Europe taken together than may be in Kenya or Cape Verde.

My point is as follows: the measurement of happiness or its antonym, misery is perhaps more subjective and experiential than academic and statistical. Culture and context should matter. Nigeria has been described as one of the poorest countries in the world. The country faces a problem of low level insurgency in the North East. Corruption is rife. Reports of all shades of violence are common place. The country’s wealth is concentrated in a few hands. Steady economic growth is a challenge.

Finance Finance Latest News, Finance Finance Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Banking stocks undermine NSE performance - Vanguard News NigeriaHEAVY losses in the banking stocks undermined the performance of the stock market, leading to loss of 0.31 percent in the All Share Index, ASI, last week.
Source: vanguardngrnews - 🏆 5. / 75 Read more »

Sell pressure hits stock market as investors lose N78.7bn – Daily TrustSell pressure in the banking stocks – Guaranty (-3.7%), Stanbic (-5.2%) and FBNH(-2.4%) has seen investors lost N78.7billion in value as market capitalisation fell to N11.6trillion yesterday. It also dragged the benchmark index 67 basis points (bps) lower to settle at 30,829.45 points, while the year to date (YTD) return worsened to -1.9%.ADVERTISEMENT Accordingly, activity …
Source: Daily Trust - 🏆 13. / 51 Read more »