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In Pursuit of Happiness Research: Is It Reliable? What Does It Imply for Policy?

Started by Will Wilkinson · 9 months ago

That’s the name of my long-awaited (by me, at least) Cato Policy Analysis, published today. Here’s the abstract:
“Happiness research” studies the correlates of subjective well-being, generally through survey methods. A number of psycholog ... Continue reading »

10 comments

  • Swimmy

    2 years ago

    Finally! I know what I'm doing after class.
    reply
  • Deborah

    2 years ago

    Damn, Will, 44 pages! Congratulations!
    reply
  • odograph

    2 years ago

    I'll have to read it. The thing that piques my immediate interest is the phrase "the American model."

    IMO, the pivotal battle in post-millennial American politics has been whether the traditional "American model," of moderate democratic capitalism, should be overthrown for something much more free-wheeling.

    Even two years ago I would have said that things trended that way.
    reply
  • Random Law Student

    2 years ago

    "It is not a short paper, nor is it written at a USA Today level of difficulty." Having read a few pages and your blog, I conclude the problem is your writing, not the subject matter. Your style suffers from excess verbiage and redundant constructions -- stylistic problems symptomatic of analytic philosophy. At any rate, congratulations on your accomplishment.
    reply
  • Lester Hunt

    2 years ago

    This is some serious writing about a serious subject. I now know what I will be doing with the first few days of my summer vacation: reading your report!
    reply
  • dearieme

    2 years ago

    Good for you. However, it's better not to use "table" as a verb if you are writing for an international readership.
    reply
  • Dave Eaton

    2 years ago

    This area is very interesting to me. It appears, from the outside, to be the latest attempt for a certain class of intellectual to affirm that they know best for us.

    One thing I wonder- what if a free market doesn't lead to happiness, but in fact does lead to objectively better lives for people?

    Would it be reasonable to suggest that people have a finite 'worry pile', and keep it filled with something no matter how good their objective conditions are? I worry about my children getting in to top-tier schools, or being abducted by weirdos, however remote the possibility of either. My great-grandparents worried about having to bury theirs.

    While I rationally know my worries are not serious compared to theirs, I might well report myself as no happier. There might even be a 'conservation of misery' principle that is a legacy of evolution, the way worry warts stay alive.

    But I am better off than my great-grandparents, and far more secure in nearly every way, and I don't think left wing academic redistributionist fantasies have had anything to do with it.
    reply
  • Seth Delackner

    2 years ago

    Dave Eaton argues that maybe our brains are built to worry about things even if we have no real problems, so we should not worry about whether americans say they are happy?

    Having spent 3 years now living in Japan, 6 months living in France, 6 months in New York, 5 years in San Diego, and ages in San Francisco, the one constant has been that everywhere people have very different baseline levels of worry. It is clearly not just evolutionary, nor is it just about quality of life. It doesn't matter if people are "objectively better" off (health care, etc) if social norms make them so miserable that they kill themselves.
    reply
  • John Hood

    2 years ago

    Will, I thoroughly enjoyed the report and will probably write a column about it eventually. Will also do a Corner post on it when I get a chance. Happy now?
    reply
  • Will Wilkinson

    2 years ago

    John, Yes!
    reply

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