Other factors have been suggested as making people happier than money.Rana Foroohar, »"Money v. Happiness: Nations Rethink Priorities", Newsweek, April 5, 2007]. A short term course of psychological therapy is 32 times more cost effective at increasing happiness than simply increasing income., »Money does not make you happy 'but therapy does', The Telegraph, November 20th 2009]Boyce, C. J., & Wood, A. M. (in press). »or mental health: The cost of alleviating psychological distress with monetary compensation versus psychological therapy »staff/alex.wood/money.pdf' Health Economics, Policy and Law One study, when corrected for social status, showed no correlation between income and happiness.
Social security
Professor Ruut Veenhoven showed that social security payments do not seem to add to happiness. This may be due to the fact that non-self-earned income (e.g., from a lottery) does not add to happiness in general either. Happiness may be the minds reward to a useful action. However, Johan Norberg of CIS, a free enterprise economy think tank, presents a hypothesis that as people who think that they themselves control their lives are more happy, paternalist institutions may decrease happiness.»The Scientist's Pursuit of Happiness, Policy, Spring 2005.
An alternative perspective focuses on the role of the welfare state as an institution that improves quality of life not only by increasing the extent to which basic human needs are met, but also by promoting greater control of one's life by limiting the degree to which individuals find themselves at the mercy of impersonal market forces that are indifferent to the fate of individuals. This is the argument suggested by the U.S. political scientist Benjamin Radcliff, who has presented a series of papers in peer reviewed scholarly journals demonstrating that a more generous welfare state contributes to higher levels of life satisfaction, and does so to rich and poor alike.Radcliff, Benjamin. 2001. "Politics, Markets, and Life Satisfaction," American Political Science Review, 95 (4): 939-952.Radcliff, Benjamin and Alexander Pacek. 2008. "Assessing the Welfare State: the Politics of Happiness," Perspectives on Politics. 6: 267-277.Alvarez-Diaz, A., Gonzalez, L., and Radcliff, B. 2010. "The Politics of Happiness: On the Political Determinants of Quality of Life in the American States", The Journal of Politics, 72 (3): 894-905.
Employment
Work is important to happiness. It creates a sense of purpose, beneficial relationships with co-workers, and also earns money. Losing one's job can be a great source of unhappiness.Andrew Oswald, »A Non-Technical Introduction to the Economics of Happiness, 1999
Relationships and children
Relationships, particularly those with women, are important to the happiness of both sexes.
Children tend to decrease parental happiness, at least until they leave home, although in terms of a broader life narrative the opposite may be true. Some research shows that at some ages (toddlers and teenagers) they decrease parental happiness, whereas at others they increase it, averaging out to no overall change. Married people are happier, but it is unclear if this is due to the marriage or if happy people are more likely to marry.
A study conducted at the University of Zurich suggested that democracy and federalism bring well-being to individuals.Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, »Happiness, Economy and Institutions, 4-5, 1999 It concluded that the more direct political participation possibilities available to citizens raises their subjective well-being. Two reasons were given for this finding. First, a more active role for citizens enables better monitoring of professional politicians by citizens, which leads to greater satisfaction with government output. Second, the ability for citizens to get involved in and have control over the political process, independently increases well-being.
According to a free market think tank Cato Institute, higher economic freedom, as measured by both the Heritage and the Fraser indices, correlates strongly with higher self-reported happiness.
Whereas leisure pursuits increase happiness, watching television is an anomaly, as it seems to correlate with lower happiness. This may be because people who watch a lot of television are lacking in better sources of happiness, such as relationships and other leisure pursuits; that is, people watch television if they don't have anything better to do.
. Blue through red represent most to least happy respectively; grey areas have no reliable data available.]]
The Satisfaction with Life Index is an attempt to show the average self-reported happiness in different nations. This is an example of a recent trend to use direct measures of happiness, such as surveys asking people how happy they are, as an alternative to traditional measures of policy success such as GDP or GNP. Some studies suggest that happiness can be measured effectively.»The True Measure of Success - Wired.com»"Happiness" is not enough- Samuel Brittan: Templeton Lecture Inst. of Economic Affairs 22/11/01 The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), published in November 2008 a major study on happiness economics in Latin America and the Caribbean ("Beyond Facts: Measuring Quality of Life", idbdocs/1776308.pdf).
There are also several examples of measures that includes self-reported happiness as one variable. Happy Life Years, a concept brought by Dutch sociologist Ruut Veenhoven, combines self-reported happiness with life expectancy. The Happy Planet Index combines it with life expectancy and ecological footprint.
Gross national happiness (GNH) is a concept introduced by the King of Bhutan in 1972 as an alternative to GDP. Several countries have already developed or are in the process of developing such an index.Andrew Revkin, »"A New Measure of Well-Being From a Happy Little Kingdom", The New York Times, October 4, 2005, »"New Measure". Bhutan’s index has led that country to limit the amount of deforestation it will allow and to require that all tourists to its nation must spend US$200 Allegedly, extensive tourism and deforestation lead to unhappiness.
After the military coup of 2006, Thailand also instituted an index. The stated promise of the new Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont is to make the Thai people not only richer but happier as well. Much like GDP results, Thailand releases monthly GNH data.»Thailand's Gross Domestic Happiness Index Falls, Monsters and Critics, 2007 The Thai GNH index is based on a 1-10 scale with 10 being the most happy. As of May 13, 2007, the Thai GNH measured 5.1 points. The index uses poll data from the population surveying various satisfaction factors such as, security, public utilities, good governance, trade, social justice, allocation of resources, education and community problems.
Australia, Canada, China, France and the United Kingdom are also coming up with indexes to measure national happiness. North Korea also announced an international Happiness Index in 2011 through Korean Central Television. North Korea itself came in second, behind #1 China.
Ecuador's and Bolivia's new constitutions state the indigenous concept of "good life" ("buen vivir" in Spanish, "sumak kawsay" in Quichua, and "suma qamaña" in Aymara) as the goal of sustainable development.
Modern classical economics no longer attempts to quantify happiness or satisfaction through measurements in consumption and profits. Instead, modern neoclassical framework argue that individual's preference is revealed through choice. Therefore, if an individual decided to purchase an apple over orange, the satisfaction one derived from apple is revealed to be greater than an orange. Similarly, modern economics also consider that work/leisure balance is also matter of individual choice.
The idea that modern neoclassical economics define happiness on the basis of consumption is widely disputed. The basis of utility has been defined as revealed preference.
tWww Loveofmoneyisrootofallprosperity En Jp About Happiness Finding Happiness Life Happiness Happiness Quotes Happiness Richard Layard Money Make You Happy Happiness Layard Can Buy Happiness Money Makes You Happy Money Happy Happiness economics Specs ";e f Happiness a Richard Money
aWww Loveofmoneyisrootofallprosperity En Jp About Happiness Finding Happiness Life Happiness Happiness Quotes Happiness Richard Layard Money Make You Happy Happiness Layard Can Buy Happiness Money Makes You Happy Money Happy Happiness economics Specs ";v Finding Happiness+quotesFreedom and control
There is a significant correlation between feeling in control of one's own life and happiness levels.
Leisure
The amount of spare time people have, as well as their control over how much spare time they have, correlates with happiness.Lina Eriksson, James Mahmud Rice, and Robert E. Goodin, »"Temporal Aspects of Life Satisfaction", "Social Indicators Research", February, 2007, 80(3), 511-533.
Health
Happiness appears to be inversely related to levels of stress, allergy, asthma and other chronic conditions.
Indices
The idea that happiness is important to a society is not new. Thomas Jefferson put the “pursuit of happiness” on the same level as life and liberty in the United States»100/298.html Jeremy Bentham believed that public policy should attempt to maximize happiness, and he even attempted to estimate a "hedonic calculus". Many other prominent economists and philosophers throughout history, including Aristotle, incorporated happiness into their work.
Neo-classical economics
Under neo-classical economic theory happiness, subjectively defined, has long been the standard of measurement used interchangeably with utility as well as the general welfare.