Local Futures

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Store
  • Contact
  • Sign up
  • Donate

The Economics of Happiness

Menu
  • About us
    • Local Futures
    • Our team
    • Founder, Helena Norberg-Hodge
    • Get involved
    • Media room
    • Our history
    • Close
  • Projects
    • Connect globally and locally
      • World Localization Day
      • Voices from the Field
      • Localization Action Guide
      • International Alliance for Localization
        • Join the IAL
        • IAL members
          • IAL member organizations
          • IAL Listserv
      • Ladakh Project
        • 40 Years in Ladakh
      • Planet Local
        • Artisanal Production
        • Built Environment
        • Culture
        • Eco Communities
        • Ecology
        • Health
        • Local Business & Finance
        • Local Energy
        • Local Food, Farming & Fisheries
        • Local Policy & Community Rights
        • Place-based Education
        • Sharing & Repairing
    • Gain a big picture perspective
      • Blog
      • Local Futures Podcast
        • Alnoor Ladha – Courageous optimism
        • Iain McGilchrist – Rediscovering Wisdom in a World Gone Mad
        • Charles Eisenstein – Towards a New and Ancient Culture
        • Vandana Shiva – The Power of People
        • Mental Health in the Global Economy with Gabor Maté
        • Jeremy Lent: Shifting Paradigms
        • COP, carbon and high-tech: who is setting the agenda?
        • Beyond Conspiracy: Framing Meaningful Activism
        • Unpacking Global Empire from an Indigenous Perspective
        • More than Just the Vegetables
        • Food Sovereignty in the Global Economy
        • Transition, Tradition, and Trade
        • Not-for-Profit Businesses
        • Love, Values, and Wellbeing Economies
        • Growing a Farmers Market from the Ground Up
        • Beautiful Places: A Conversation with Wendell Berry
        • Creating the Framework for a New Economy
        • From GDP to GNH
        • Rebuilding Healthy Communities: The Growing Ecovillage Movement
        • Seeds of Resilience, Seeds of Sovereignty
        • Why Local Ownership Matters
        • Local Alternatives to Globalized Development: A View from India
        • How to Feed the World? A Political Agroecological Approach
        • Helena Norberg-Hodge on how corporate ‘free trade’ deals threaten local communities and economies worldwide
      • Webinars
        • Sacred Activism in a Post-Trump World Webinar
        • Talking Climate Webinar
        • People Power: Democracy and the Economy Webinar
        • Beyond Trump: The Path to Real Change Webinar
        • Bringing the Food Economy Home Webinar
        • A World Without ‘Free’ Trade: What it would look like and how to get there
        • Beyond ‘Free Trade’ – Alternatives to Corporate Rule
        • Education: Promises, Myths & Realities Webinar
        • Debt and Speculation in the Global Economy Webinar
        • A New Activism Webinar
        • Climate Change or System Change Webinar
        • Going Local Webinar
      • Powerful talks
      • Films and short videos
      • Books and reports
    • Close
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
    • Planet Local Summit Bristol 2023
    • World Localization Day
    • Economics of Happiness conferences
    • Other past events
    • Close
  • Action resources
    • Getting the facts
      • Globalization – drivers and impacts
      • Localization – a solution-multiplier
      • Big Picture Activism – rethinking basic assumptions
    • Action tools
      • Localization Action Guide
      • Covid-19 response: let’s localize like never before
      • Maps of alternatives
      • Organizations for change
      • Independent media sources
      • Films for change
      • Recommended readings
    • Close
  • Books, reports & videos
    • Books and reports
      • Life After Progress
      • Local is Our Future
      • Ancient Futures
      • Free reads
      • Translated resources
      • Annual report
    • Films and short videos
      • PLANET LOCAL : A Quiet Revolution
      • LOCAL: A Story of Hope
      • Local Food Can Save The World
      • Going Local: the solution-multiplier
      • Insane Trade!
      • The Economics of Happiness
      • Ancient Futures
    • Close
You are here: Home / Projects / The Economics of Happiness Film

Economics of Happiness

The Economics of Happiness

Localization is the best way to repair
our ecosystems, our societies and ourselves.

‘The Economics of Happiness’ film

Our award-winning film, ‘The Economics of Happiness’, spells out the social, spiritual, and ecological costs of today’s global economy while highlighting the multiple benefits of economic localization. The film showcases the steps people are already taking worldwide to rebuild their local economies and communities. Featuring Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, David Korten, Samdhong Rinpoche, and other inspiring thinkers and activists.

“What’s our favourite documentary of all time? The one film we wish everyone could see? Hands down, this is it. It is truly one of the most important and useful films for inspiring change that has been made in a generation.”
– Films for Action –

The Economics of Happiness is FREE TO WATCH here and on Vimeo and YouTube. Please consider supporting our work by making a donation to the filmmakers, Local Futures, here. Or you can order the DVD via our online shop here. Watch the 3-minute trailer on YouTube.

Watch on Vimeo →
Watch on YouTube →
Order the DVD →
Translations of the Economics of Happiness film

The English-language DVD includes Spanish, French, and English subtitles, and can be purchased in our online store. For other languages, click the link below.

Go to translations →
Abridged version of the Economics of Happiness film

The abridged, 20-minute version of the film can be viewed online for free on YouTube (below), on Vimeo, and on the Films for Action website.

Watch on YouTube →
Host a screening of the Economics of Happiness film

To initiate discussion and inspire local initiatives we encourage everyone to host a community screening of ‘The Economics of Happiness’ or our other films.

Host a screening →
Discussion Guide of the Economics of Happiness film

This guide expands on the arguments made in the film, and points to a wealth of resources for further learning, reflection and action.

Download →

Economics of Happiness conferences

Since 2012, Local Futures has been organizing and running a series of Economics of Happiness conferences in venues around the world, in collaboration with international thought leaders and local activists and organizations. The events aim to stimulate critical debate about the global corporate economy, and to encourage an exploration of human-scale alternatives.

Find out more →

Further Resources

Book Local is Our Future by Helena Norberg-Hodge

Local is Our Future

Helena Norberg-Hodge’s latest book reveals the causes of – and solutions to – our many social, economic, ecological and spiritual crises.

Read more →
The Economics of Happiness film by Local Futures

Books, reports and videos

A comprehensive overview of our books, films and reports, which have collectively been translated into over 40 languages.

Read more →
Action resources - Local Futures

Action resources

Use these resources to learn how the global economy is plunging us into crises, and how you can support local economies.

Read more →
  • Books and reports
    • Life After Progress
    • Local is Our Future
    • Ancient Futures
    • Free reads
    • Translated resources
    • Annual report
  • Films and short videos
    • PLANET LOCAL : A Quiet Revolution
    • LOCAL: A Story of Hope
    • Local Food Can Save The World
    • Going Local: the solution-multiplier
    • Insane Trade!
    • The Economics of Happiness
    • Ancient Futures

Sign up for our email updates

Local is Our Future now available in E-book

Latest Blogs

  • From ‘Progress’ to an Economics of Happiness

    March 19, 20235 Comments
  • Yard to table: building a local food economy

    March 7, 20231 Comment
  • Listening to the Forest

    March 1, 20231 Comment

Now Available in E-Book

Local Futures logo

About us
Contact
Blog
Store
Annual report
Privacy policy

Sign up to our newsletter

Donate

Local Futures © Copyright 2023 | site by digiflip