The most fundamental criticism of happiness economics lies in its dependence on the concept of cardinal utility -- that is, that personal preferences are measurable and comparable in an objective fashion by an outside observer. Cardinal utility is, however, a discredited and largely discarded concept in economics.[30]
Some have suggested that establishing happiness as a metric is only meant to serve political goals.[3] Recently there has been concern that happiness research could be used to advance authoritarian aims.[3] As a result, some participants at a happiness conference in Rome have suggested that happiness research should not be used as a matter of public policy but rather used to inform individuals.[3]
In addition, survey findings can lead to subjective interpretations. For example, a happiness study conducted in Russia during the 1990s[2] indicated that as unemployment grew, the well-being of both those employed and unemployed rose. The interpretation of this could be that it resulted from diminished expectations and respondents who were less critical of their own situation when many around them were unemployed,[2] or it could be interpreted as being the result of everyone benefitting from the unpaid work that the unemployed were able to do for their families and communities with their increased time resource.