Globalisation: we can avoid a race to the bottom

Contrary to the impression this column may sometimes give, I like to think that I am at heart an optimist. What makes one seem pessimistic are economic policies that appear to be mistaken and to cause unnecessary hardship. After all, although economics has been known for centuries as "the dismal science", it is fundamentally concerned with improving the human condition.

I had thought that this was always the case although some economists have made a big thing about "the economics of happiness", as if it were an exciting discovery. This is usually associated with criticism of the idea that gross domestic product is the be-all and end-all of economic performance.