Because for the current socio-economic market ideology, sustained happiness is a negative. It makes people consume less.
Short term happiness resulting from consumption that ensures a relapse and thus the need for more short term relief through further consumption is what the action side of our economy optimizes for. A furniture maker that produces quality tables that last for centuries will soon be bankrupt as he eats his own market. An IKEA that sells you a fashionable crap table that you want/need to replace real soon, either by induced need or low structural resilience quality, creates its own perpetual demand. That gives you an indication why despite major advances in manufacturing technology our physical goods now are so feeble when we could still make a decent washer that lasted for a lifetime just 50 years ago.
GDP is a fairly good indicator for the 'rent seeking economy' that rules our system, as it is more or less aligned with transaction sizes and volumes.
Short term happiness resulting from consumption that ensures a relapse and thus the need for more short term relief through further consumption is what the action side of our economy optimizes for. A furniture maker that produces quality tables that last for centuries will soon be bankrupt as he eats his own market. An IKEA that sells you a fashionable crap table that you want/need to replace real soon, either by induced need or low structural resilience quality, creates its own perpetual demand. That gives you an indication why despite major advances in manufacturing technology our physical goods now are so feeble when we could still make a decent washer that lasted for a lifetime just 50 years ago.
GDP is a fairly good indicator for the 'rent seeking economy' that rules our system, as it is more or less aligned with transaction sizes and volumes.