Kamil  Waligóra

University of Bialystok

 Poland

kamilwaligora@tlen.pl

Developed societies = happy societies? Growth or development - BRIC

ABSTRACT. The paper presents the effects of the approach of the BRIC countries’ authorities (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to the issues of growth, development and social satisfaction. The aim was to establish which of the BRIC countries best used the favorable economic conditions for achievement of social objectives. The paper shows the results of researches on a correlation between the assessment of quality of life of the population and growth as well as economic development on the example of the BRIC countries. Comparison of qualitative and quantitative (from economic to psychological) indicators allowed to evaluate the effectiveness of governments’ policies.

As a result of the analysis, the author stated that a steady increase in income is essential and should be used by the authorities of the state to ensure the development and to satisfy the needs of the society. In the last three decades, BRIC achieved dynamic economic growth, which in different ways influenced the socio-economic development. Consequently, only Brazil used the economic growth properly to improve the social and living conditions of the population, which had an effect on the level of the happiness of the society.

Received: February, 2015

1st Revision: April, 2015

Accepted: May, 2015

DOI: 10.14254/2071-

8330.2015/8-1/10

JEL Classification: E2, F43, F63, F64, I31, I38, O11, O21, O4

Keywords: : growth, development, happiness, BRIC, developed society