Why we may be measuring the wrong things

When it comes to GDP, I'm sceptical. Not sceptical of the metric, but sceptical that it is truly measuring how well off we are. Here in this article, Robert Fogel argues that China will end up being the dominant economy in the world in the next 30 years. That's well and good, but I think he is missing something when he states:

"In another way, Europe's culture confounds economists.Citizens of Europe's wealthy countries are not working longer hours to makehigher salaries and accumulate more goods. Rather, European culture continuesto prize long vacations, early retirements, and shorter work weeks overacquiring more stuff, at least in comparison to many other developed countries,such as the United States. In my observation, those living in most WesternEuropean countries appear to be more content than Americans with the kind ofcommodities they already have, for example, not aspiring to own more TVs perhousehold. Set aside whether that's virtuous. A promenade in the Jardin duLuxembourg, as opposed to a trip to Walmart for a flat-screen TV, won't helpthe European Union's GDP growth."

Yes, this is right. It won't help GDP growth, but it is good living. So why is it that good living is not measured by GDP? Personally, it seems necessary to incorporate happiness in our measure of GDP. I know this going on now in certain areas. I think it needs to accelerate.