A few weeks ago, the founder of well-being economic, Richard Easterlin died, at the age of 98. In 2019, I invited him out to NZ, as a Visiting Professor to Auckland University. He was interviewed by Liam Dann at the NZ Herald and had a degree of influence over this nation's approach to the pandemic, as recognized by the Beehive in June 2020, which includes a link to a Zoom interview that I did with him back then. Easterlin was the intellectual architect of former PM Ardern and Finance Minister Robertson's "well-being approach" and "well-being budgets". That approach has always been scorned by National and ACT, who regard it as a joke. It is no joke to me.
