The government's responsibility is not just to increase GDP, but also to coordinate development. GDP growth is the result of several economic factors and is not just the product of policy success. Only in calculation does it become a tool, especially when it is used as a rubric for measuring the success of certain officials. This doesn’t just embarrass the central government as well as the provincial leaders, but can result in serious infringements of civil rights. Corruption and communication problems between rural areas and urban centers are signs of this. Worse still, the central government is powerless to deal with these issues. 
    
But the Happiness Index itself can itself become a tool exploited by officials in the same way GDP has. Preventing this is even more important than designing the Happiness Index itself. In the economy, currency is the ballot. Every consumer chooses goods and services according to their own will, and as a result businesses will strive to provide the best they can to win them over. Politics are designed this way as well. Each citizen should select the most suitable candidate, essentially creating a contract. The citizens promise to pay taxes, the official promises to be fair.     

The crux of the happiness formula is the need to increase contentment. This includes contentment with both personal and public goods and services. Due to limited funds, the poor are restrained in their consumption of private goods. But they should use their power as citizens to vote for public goods and services, hence increasing the happiness of themselves and others.     

Thus, the critical part of the evaluation standard is the subject being evaluated. If from the start a democratic process with close involvement by citizens was used to run studies on policy, what people are denouncing as skin-deep economic and political successes would not be so serious or pervasive today. With enough respect and leeway, citizens themselves can ensure that taxes and government expenditures are rational. 
   
What should the future Happiness Index measure? How can it be made more scientific? These kinds of questions must not be dismissed as just scholarly pursuits, for they are indeed a matter of civil rights. We must force officials to realize that the power is in our hands, and that we do not need to rely on personal goods and services for happiness. Everyone, poor or not, should be able to share the benefits of being a member of society and enjoy the happiness that it brings.