Sunday, November 28, 2010
The joyless or the jobless
In 2006 British economist Robert Layard argued that unhappiness is a bigger social problem in Britain than unemployment. Due to the current recession there are now more jobless than joyless in Britain. However economists and policymakers continue to take interest in happiness, as British Prime Minister David Cameron recently requested that the country's "general well-being" be measured. Many economists doubt the claim that at a certain point economic growth ceases to increase happiness. The article points out that although many people claim they would prefer happiness over increased wealth, many would still choose increased money over increased happiness. As new policies are formulated should governments give more weight to increased wealth or increased happiness since, as the article states, "Money may not buy happiness. But why take the chance?"
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4 comments:
even though many say and believe that money doesn't bring happiness (and I wish it did) I feel that in many aspects money does bring aspects. There are certainly some things that can bring you happiness without the need for money but like the article states people prefer money over happiness because in the long run it does bring joy.
thus the govt should focus increasing wealth rather than focusing on happiness
I definitely agree that money brings happiness to a certain extent. At the very least, being financially secure decreases the amount of stress and worrying done by people struggling to get by. Having less money to begin with also means that you are less likely to be able to pursue a career you would see as fulfilling and more likely to have to accept a job you hate instead.
Money cannot buy happiness but it surely buys the foundation for happiness in my opinion. I agree with Tanvi that money does bring joy in the long run. With money, you can buy houses, social insurance, security, have your children educated which are some of the leading factor that bring happiness. I doubt anyone can be happy without money. The problem is the difference between money and how much money, needs and wants. I think the British government should focus on the general definition of happiness among their citizens
While personally I really like this approach to economics and government policy, the sad reality is that it is unrealistic to ask a government to base policy on promoting something as abstract as happiness. The economic model for happiness is measured in utility, but ultimately economists admit that this cannot measure many sources of happiness. The government should aim at increasing wealth, and leave people to "pursue happiness" on their own.
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