You know what, though? Roughly, people are happier in countries where they are wealthy enough to buy things they want. A lot of "alternative" measuring sticks are far more susceptible to political fiddling, or are meaningless. That doesn't make GDP the be-all and end-all of measuring how a country is doing, but it's not as bad as all that, either.
Wealth correlates with a lot of things, such as health and buying power. It's too large a stretch to say being able to buy things increases happiness. Perhaps just being wealthy enough to have good healthcare does it. Could be many things.
