Med Jones

Med Jones is an American economist. He is the president of International Institute of Management, a U.S. based research organization. His work at the institute focuses on economic, investment, and business strategies.

Med Jones is one of few economists who predicted the economic crisis of 2007-2008 caused by the burst of the housing bubble. In a 2006 white paper, he listed three major U.S. economic risks for the decade between 2007-2017. The risks included the housing bubble, consumer debt, and the government debt including the social security and medicaid entitlements. He warned that the crash of the housing bubble will not be limited to the housing sector of the financial market but will undermine the US economic confidence which is the worst kind of risk that an economy might face.

Economic forecasting is the holy-grail of investing. Wall Street spends billions of dollars on economic research and analysis. Accurate economic forecasting is regarded by academics and investors to be next to impossible. Yet, sometimes some analysts emerge with a specific view that contradicts the mainstream and with exceptional accuracy they prove the most respected economists and investors wrong. Among the economists who predicted the crisis, Jones' predictions are considered the most accurate.

Investors and investment advisers who follow his predictions regard him among the prominent independent thinking money managers and economists.

Despite having the most accurate forecasting record of the great recession and recovery, he advises investors against using his own forecasts. Jones believes economic forecasting is unreliable and Wall Street is a casino. In one interview, he says "I do not advise anyone to invest based on my outlook of the economy. The truth is that when people invest on Wall Street, they are essentially making bets about the future.” In addition, although he is known for his work on economics, he tries to distance himself from the economic profession.

Mr. Jones is credited with the introduction of Gross National Happiness Index (GNH Index) Initiative in 2005 also known as Gross National Well-being or GNW Index. In 2006 he published a white paper titled the American Pursuit of Unhappiness calling on policy makers, economists and researchers to review and improve upon the proposed GNH Index framework. The initiative was widely referenced by academic and research papers citing the GNH index as a model for economic development and measurement

The term Gross National Happiness or GNH was coined in 1972 by Bhutan's fourth Dragon King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The GNH philosophy suggested that the ideal of government is to promote happiness. The philosophy remained difficult to implement due to the subjective nature of happiness and the lack of exact quantitative definition of GNH and the lack of a practical model to measure the impact of economic policies on the subjective well-being of the citizens.

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