tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/happiness-economics-24220/articlesHappiness economics – The Conversation2022-05-11T12:05:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1778032022-05-11T12:05:24Z2022-05-11T12:05:24ZTrusting societies are overall happier – a happiness expert explains why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458931/original/file-20220420-14-zrcqrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trust in other people and in public institutions is one key predictor of happiness.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/the-cowds-at-global-gathering-festival-long-marston-airfield-stoke-on-picture-id129369037?s=2048x2048">Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Human beings are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0389-1">social animals</a>. This means, almost as a matter of logical necessity, that humans’ quality of life is largely decided by the quality of their societies. </p>
<p>Trust is one key factor that helps shape societies – specifically, if individuals feel a basic level of trust in others, outside of their immediate friends and family, they are happier. </p>
<p>People lead better, happier and more satisfying lives when people in their communities share high levels of trust.</p>
<p>Finland is the the happiest country in the world, for the fifth year in a row, according to the latest annual United Nations <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2022/">World Happiness Report</a>, released in April 2022. The report uses data from Gallup world polls and measures the way people feel about their lives. It is not a coincidence that Finland also has one of the world’s highest levels of trust among people, known as interpersonal trust. </p>
<p>“Research has linked trust with economic growth, democracy, tolerance, charity, community, health, and happiness,” <a href="https://lanekenworthy.net/trust/">Lane Kenworthy</a>, a political scientist and sociologist, writes. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kmcQMRwAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar of happiness</a>, I have written extensively about the nature and causes of happiness. <a href="https://benjaminradcliff.com/">My work</a>, and <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/social-environments-for-world-happiness/#inequality-and-happiness">research by others</a>, confirms the general idea that greater levels of trust among people lead to more happiness. </p>
<p>There are specific reasons trust and happiness are so deeply connected. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458945/original/file-20220420-19-aicu3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young girls play outside together, jumping rope, in Turku, Finland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458945/original/file-20220420-19-aicu3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458945/original/file-20220420-19-aicu3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458945/original/file-20220420-19-aicu3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458945/original/file-20220420-19-aicu3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458945/original/file-20220420-19-aicu3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458945/original/file-20220420-19-aicu3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458945/original/file-20220420-19-aicu3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Finland has consistently ranked as the happiest country worldwide in the World Happiness Report.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/finland-turku-turku-waeinoe-aaltosen-koulu-children-playing-outdoors-picture-id545739915?s=2048x2048">Fishman/ullstein bild via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>How trust encourages happiness</h2>
<p>The first reason is that people’s quality of life improves when they can reasonably assume the goodwill of others in their day-to-day lives. This kind of generalized trust may also promote other, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0237934">more specific kinds of trust</a>, such as trust in government.</p>
<p>In Finland, trust in other people – and in public institutions – is exceptionally high. In 2019, Finnish people <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/83f2a08d-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/83f2a08d-en">reported high levels</a> of trust in police, the government and one another. </p>
<p>Only 2.8% of people reported that crime was a major worry, demonstrating a lack of concern about trusting other people. </p>
<p>Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands followed Finland as the happiest countries in 2021, according to this analysis. Like Finland, these countries have extremely high levels of both trust and happiness. </p>
<p>In a high-trust environment, people go about their lives with the easy assurance that others around them are generally honest and even benevolent. These sorts <a href="http://ccare.stanford.edu/press_posts/good-social-relationships-are-the-most-consistent-predictor-of-a-happy-life/#:%7E:text=Heaps%20of%20research%20suggest%20that,feel%20happiness%2C%20contentment%20and%20calm.">of strong human connections</a> have been shown to promote happiness. </p>
<p>By comparison, in a low-trust environment, people are suspicious. They feel they must always be on guard, in case other people attempt to deceive, exploit or take advantage of them.</p>
<p>Afghanistan ranked as the least happy country in the 2022 World Happiness Report.</p>
<p>In 2019, two years before the Taliban overtook the country, Afghans reported feeling low satisfaction in public services like water quality, roads, health care and education. Most of those surveyed in Afghanistan also said <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/266252/inside-afghanistan-stability-institutions-remains-elusive.aspx">in a 2019 Gallup world poll</a> that corruption in government and business was endemic.</p>
<p>It takes no great insight to understand why high-trust societies tend to be happier than places where trust is low. People find it easier to build or strengthen connections to others when they generally trust everyone, from their acquaintances to their spouses.</p>
<h2>Emotional energy</h2>
<p>Trust also promotes happiness in more subtle ways.</p>
<p>Everyone has a limited amount of <a href="https://theconversation.com/emotions-how-humans-regulate-them-and-why-some-people-cant-104713">emotional energy</a>. The more trusting a society is, the fewer emotional resources we must devote to everyday interactions. The less someone has to worry about being pickpocketed, for example, the more emotional energy they have available to spend time nurturing relationships with family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/">Research has shown</a> that investment in community and these kinds of relationships is likely to pay off in the form of a happier life.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458933/original/file-20220420-16-5e6ale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a bright yellow jacket and blue pants sits on a seesaw, smiling, and facing the camera behind a blurred b background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458933/original/file-20220420-16-5e6ale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458933/original/file-20220420-16-5e6ale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458933/original/file-20220420-16-5e6ale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458933/original/file-20220420-16-5e6ale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458933/original/file-20220420-16-5e6ale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458933/original/file-20220420-16-5e6ale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458933/original/file-20220420-16-5e6ale.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A person tries out an adult playground, designed to show how play brings happiness, in London in July 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/members-of-the-public-try-out-the-9nine-adult-playground-created-to-picture-id824015930?s=2048x2048">John Phillips/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Equality matters</h2>
<p>Finally, it is also important to consider how happiness is distributed among individuals across society. This is known as happiness equality. </p>
<p>Evidence strongly suggests that lower levels of happiness inequality within a society promote higher levels of average life satisfaction. The more equal a society’s distribution of happiness, the happier people tend to be.</p>
<p>So if more trust produces more happiness equality, and more happiness equality means higher levels of happiness itself, then trust should, once again, promote greater happiness. </p>
<p>A variety of factors are at work behind this connection. The most obvious one, perhaps, is that people generally care about the well-being of others.</p>
<p>Efforts to reduce inequality of happiness are <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/social-environments-for-world-happiness/#inequality-and-happiness">likely to raise happiness for all</a>.</p>
<p>This dynamic creates a cycle – the more we take the happiness of others into consideration, the more we appreciate life.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Radcliff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Finland was recently ranked, for the fifth year in a row, as the world’s happiest country. Trust in others in society plays a large role in what makes people there – and elsewhere – happy.Benjamin Radcliff, Professor of Political Science, University of Notre DameLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1699632021-10-18T09:51:55Z2021-10-18T09:51:55ZEuroMillions jackpot: what we know about how winning the lottery changes your life<p>Most of us have dreamt about winning big in the lottery – I know I have. This dream came true for a French ticket-holder, <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/euromillions-french-frances-northern-ireland-b960830.html">who won</a> the record £184 million EuroMillions jackpot.</p>
<p>A sudden income of £184 million would no doubt be life-changing. But what do we actually know about the effects of lottery wins on our lives? Will being a jackpot winner make us happy now, or in the future? </p>
<p>I’ve spent my career researching how our happiness and wellbeing can be effected by life changes, decisions and luck – including the lottery. Here’s what I’ve learned about how winning the lottery can potentially change people’s lives.</p>
<p>Winning a moderate amount of money in the lottery has an effect on who we are, how we spend our money and what we want to do with our lives. In various studies, my colleagues and I have found that winning at least £500 in the National Lottery makes people significantly more <a href="https://theconversation.com/lottery-wins-make-people-more-likely-to-vote-conservative-22909">right-wing and less egalitarian</a>, more likely to <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1162/ajhe_a_00092">switch to private health insurance</a> and to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167268121002304">become self-employed</a>. </p>
<p>Evidence on whether winning the lottery makes you happy is somewhat mixed. Using a British sample of over 16,000 lottery winners with an average win of several thousand pounds, economists <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629606000853">Andrew Oswald and Jonathan Gardner</a>, and later economists <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hec.3035">Benedicte Apouey and Andrew Clark</a>, reported large and positive effects of wealth on winners’ mental health appearing two years after the win. </p>
<p>However, a <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.101.5.2226">more recent study</a> of the Dutch Postcode Lottery focusing on a larger lottery win of a median US$22,500 (£16,400) albeit with a smaller sample size of winners to the British study (223 people) found little evidence that lottery wins affected people’s happiness in a statistically significant way.</p>
<h2>Winning big</h2>
<p>Most of these previous studies have looked at the effects of winning several thousand dollars in the lottery – but what about the massive winners? </p>
<p>Until recently, we did not have many observations of big lottery winners to conduct a meaningful study of the effects. People who win more than US$100,000 (£73,000) in the lottery do not typically feature in nationally representative household surveys as there are so few of them in any randomly selected household. </p>
<p>This also means that any previous studies that tried to estimate the psychological impacts of large lottery wins would have too small a sample size to make any statistical findings conclusive. </p>
<p>In an attempt to settle this issue once and for all, three economists – Erik Lindqvist, Robert Östling, and David Cesarini – have conducted <a href="https://academic.oup.com/restud/article/87/6/2703/5734654?login=true">one of the largest studies</a> to date of the long term effects of big lottery wins on psychological wellbeing. </p>
<p>With an average win of US$106,000 (£77,000) and a sample size of more than 2,500 winners in the Swedish Lottery, they found big winners’ overall life satisfaction to be significantly higher than that of small winners and non-winners with similar characteristics. This persists more than five years after the win.</p>
<p>Life satisfaction is a measure of <a href="https://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12992-017-0290-0">evaluative wellbeing</a> – the overall evaluation of how one views one’s life. This is distinct from experienced wellbeing – the positive emotions that we experience day-to-day.</p>
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<p>The Swedish study found little evidence that winning a large amount of money in the lottery had any significant impact on winners’ happiness, which is a measure of experienced wellbeing. They also found winning big in the lottery does not substantially improve people’s current mental health.</p>
<p>This is consistent with a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/107/38/16489.short">study</a> by Nobel prize-winning economists Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, which showed that beyond a US$75,000 (£54,600) threshold, measures of evaluative wellbeing continue to rise with income whereas measures of experienced wellbeing, like happiness and mental health, do not. </p>
<p>Furthermore, there was no evidence in the Swedish lottery study that a US$100,000 win significantly improved people’s satisfaction with their health, relationship, housing, neighbourhood and society. </p>
<p>The evidence from these studies suggests that winning the EuroMillions jackpot would significantly and sustainably improve the way we think about our finances and how our lives turn out in the long run, but it is less likely to make our day-to-day life feel more enjoyable.</p>
<p>For most of us, our dreams of winning big in the lottery will never materialise. But just buying a ticket can give us a warm, thrilling feeling of anticipation while we wait for the lucky numbers to be drawn. Psychologists call this the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268113003041">“let me dream on”</a> effect. That reason alone might be good enough for us to keep playing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169963/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nattavudh Powdthavee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Would £184 million make you any happier?Nattavudh Powdthavee, Professor of Behavioural Science, Warwick Business School, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1473822020-11-06T19:14:59Z2020-11-06T19:14:59ZJob policies that offer generous unemployment benefits create more happiness – for everyone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367974/original/file-20201106-13-1b5ee36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C49%2C2980%2C1891&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Turn that frown upside down.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/happy-sad-royalty-free-image/91048634">shaunl/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Losing one’s job undoubtedly makes someone less happy, a feeling <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/06/1067432">tens of millions of people around the world are experiencing</a> right now. Even as the labor market recovers, as we saw in the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm">latest U.S. employment report</a> on Nov. 6, the number of people who have been without a job for more than 26 weeks <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/06/business/us-economy-coronavirus">continues to increase</a>. </p>
<p>Governments <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/coronavirus/regional-country/country-responses/lang--en/index.htm">have implemented a wide variety of labor market policies</a> to address the pandemic’s impact, from beefing up funding of existing unemployment policies to supplemental income programs like the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/business/economy/unemployment-benefits-coronavirus.html">US$600 checks that the U.S. sent out</a> during part of the pandemic. </p>
<p>While these policies are intended to alleviate the economic pain of losing one’s job, we, as <a href="https://www.minerva.kgi.edu/people/robson-morgan-phd-assistant-professor-social-sciences/">happiness</a> <a href="https://statistiques.public.lu/en/actors/statec/organisation/red/OConnor/index.html">researchers</a>, are more interested in how they might affect people’s well-being during the pandemic. </p>
<p>Broadly speaking, do some types of labor policies result in more happiness than others? </p>
<h2>Measuring happiness</h2>
<p>The answer to this question relies on the <a href="https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/what_we_do/event/the_science_of_happiness">science of happiness</a>, a burgeoning new area of social science research.</p>
<p>Social scientists like us use statistical methods to analyze data collected in surveys that ask people to report their level of happiness based on how they feel their life is going. This allows us to better understand the causes and consequences of happiness. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most well-known results of all this work are the global happiness rankings that come out each year, through which people have learned <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/social-environments-for-world-happiness/">how wonderful life is in Scandinavia</a>. Indeed more and <a href="https://www.happinesscouncil.org">more countries and organizations</a> are <a href="https://issuu.com/behavioralsciencepolicyassociation/docs/policy_insights_from_the_new_science_of_well-being">measuring happiness</a> and tweaking policies as a result.</p>
<p>While economic indicators such as unemployment and gross domestic product paint a <a href="https://news.uchicago.edu/story/happiness-among-americans-dips-five-decade-low">bleak picture of life</a> right now, the loss in happiness is likely even larger than implied by growth and jobs data because these indicators fail to capture psychological costs. Even those who are not sick or unemployed <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2771502">face significant distress</a> as a result of pandemic-related fears or social isolation. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/003465303772815745">Research shows</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2017.3.3.04">these factors</a> <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/roiw.12369">are detrimental</a> for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814417358_0006">feelings of well-being</a>. </p>
<p>While worrying about happiness may seem trivial when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html">so many people have died</a>, deteriorating well-being can create a <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2306651">vicious cycle</a>. Fear, despair, depression and isolation trigger worse <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2019.10.018">health</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2003.09.002">economic</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12388">social</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2019.03.024">outomes</a>, which in turn reinforce the negative feelings.</p>
<p>Such a cycle prolongs recovery and may ultimately lead to spiking suicide rates and deaths of despair. </p>
<p>So at a time of heightened stress and forced social isolation, finding ways to help people stay positive and healthy is extremely important. And based on <a href="https://statistiques.public.lu/catalogue-publications/economie-statistiques/2020/114-2020.pdf">our research</a>, we believe one way to do this is with the right labor market policy. </p>
<h2>Labor market bliss</h2>
<p>Relevant labor market policies can be loosely divided into three types. </p>
<p>The first provides support for people who become unemployed in the form of income replacement or training programs. An example of this is <a href="https://www.oecd.org/employment/emp/employmentdatabase-labourmarketpoliciesandinstitutions.htm">unemployment insurance</a>, which provides benefits to qualified workers when they lose their jobs. </p>
<p>The second type <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org//sites/1686c758-en/1/3/3/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/1686c758-en&_csp_=fc80786ea6a3a7b4628d3f05b1e2e5d7&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=book#">restricts the firing of employees</a>, a policy common in Europe that guarantees job security to some extent. Both of these policies are intended to buffer workers from individual shocks and deteriorating labor market conditions in a recession. </p>
<p>The third includes temporary measures enacted during <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/1686c758-en/1/3/1/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/1686c758-en&_csp_=fc80786ea6a3a7b4628d3f05b1e2e5d7&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=book">extraordinary times</a> such as furloughing employees: that is, keeping them in their jobs at reduced pay with assistance by governments. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/may/12/how-the-uk-furlough-scheme-compares-with-other-countries">U.K. notably put this policy in place</a> early in the pandemic with the idea that it would allow economies to quickly recover from COVID-19 by essentially freezing the economy in place, after which people can quickly return to their jobs.</p>
<p>To get a better sense of how these labor market policies affect well-being, <a href="https://statistiques.public.lu/catalogue-publications/economie-statistiques/2020/114-2020.pdf">we studied</a> how happiness changed in 23 European countries in the aftermath of the Great Recession that resulted from the 2008-2009 financial crisis. </p>
<p>We found that countries that had more generous income replacement policies experienced smaller losses in happiness on average. Denmark and Ireland, for example, which experienced some of the smallest declines, both had generous income replacement and training programs for the unemployed. </p>
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<p>Greece, Italy and several other Mediterranean countries, on the other hand, which suffered some of the largest drops in happiness in the period, offered relatively little income support for the unemployed and had strict employment protection legislation.</p>
<p>Perhaps most surprising is that policies that explicitly protected employees – such as restrictions on layoffs – did not appear to do a very good job keeping people happy. For example, Greece and Italy relied on these types of policies to protect their workers yet nonetheless experienced high losses in happiness. </p>
<p>We believe the reason is that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/0033553042476215">these policies</a> make it harder to fire employees. That <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4132669?seq=1">discourages hiring</a> in a recession because employers know they won’t be able to easily let go of the person if conditions deteriorate. So companies defer hiring, which makes it harder for people looking for a job to find one, and increases worries about becoming unemployed. Indeed, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.red.2012.02.001">previous research</a> indicates that high unemployment during recessions is due more to reductions in hiring than initial dismissals. </p>
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<h2>Supporting well-being</h2>
<p>So what does this tell us about the current situation? </p>
<p>Our research suggests restarting policies like the US$600 supplement the U.S. government offered the unemployed until the funding lapsed at the end of July is the optimal approach to supporting citizens’ well-being. Offering job training programs to help people find new jobs is another good strategy. </p>
<p>Policies that lock people into jobs, like the furlough approach taken in the U.K., may do more harm than good as they can limit the ability of companies to do the hiring necessary to make adjustments during this unprecedented situation. </p>
<p>This will increase worries about becoming unemployed, hurt people who become unemployed and potentially slow an economic recovery by limiting the ability of the labor market to adapt to a post-pandemic world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelsey O'Connor's organization received funding from the National Research Fund of Luxembourg for a project Kelsey O'Connor works on. He sits on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies and the Advisory Panel of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robson Hiroshi Hatsukami Morgan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Governments use a variety of labor market policies to support workers who lose their jobs – each with a different impact on a country’s well-being.Robson Hiroshi Hatsukami Morgan, Assistant Professor of Social Sciences, Minerva UniversityKelsey O'Connor, Researcher, National Institute for Statistics and Economic StudiesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1192622019-07-19T08:46:32Z2019-07-19T08:46:32ZHumans aren’t designed to be happy – so stop trying<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284484/original/file-20190717-147270-h0ifpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-notes-stuck-on-message-cork-224142373?src=BSu4GmSjEddNK5bez6v0mg-5-51&studio=1">Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A huge happiness and positive thinking industry, estimated to be worth <a href="https://www.forbes.com/2009/10/14/positive-thinking-myths-lifestyle-health-happiness.html#60bdbfc518ed">US$11 billion a year</a>, has helped to create the fantasy that happiness is a realistic goal. Chasing the happiness dream is a very American concept, exported to the rest of the world through popular culture. Indeed, “the pursuit of happiness” is one of the US’s “unalienable rights”. Unfortunately, this has helped to create an expectation that real life stubbornly refuses to deliver.</p>
<p>Because even when all our material and biological needs are satisfied, a state of sustained happiness will still remain a theoretical and elusive goal, as Abd-al-Rahman III, Caliph of Córdoba in the tenth century, discovered. He was one of the most powerful men of his time, who enjoyed military and cultural achievements, as well as the earthly pleasures of his two harems. Towards the end of his life, however, he decided to count the exact number of days during which he had felt happy. They amounted to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/happy-days-psychiatry-in-history/DFE0D1D9758A8C54BB2E993EA1FF4194">precisely 14</a>.</p>
<p>Happiness, as the Brazilian poet Vinicius de Moraes put it, is “like a feather flying in the air. It flies light, but not for very long.” Happiness is a human construct, an abstract idea with no equivalent in actual human experience. Positive and negative affects do reside in the brain, but sustained happiness has no biological basis. And – perhaps surprisingly – I reckon <a href="http://cruxpublishing.co.uk/you-are-not-meant-to-be-happy/">this is something to be happy about</a>.</p>
<h2>Nature and evolution</h2>
<p>Humans are not designed to be happy, or even content. Instead, we are designed primarily to survive and reproduce, like every other creature in the natural world. A state of contentment is discouraged by nature because it would lower our guard against possible threats to our survival.</p>
<p>The fact that evolution has prioritised the development of a big frontal lobe in our brain (which gives us excellent executive and analytical abilities) over a natural ability to be happy, tells us a lot about nature’s priorities. Different geographical locations and circuits in the brain are each associated with certain neurological and intellectual functions, but happiness, being a mere construct with no neurological basis, cannot be found in the brain tissue.</p>
<p>In fact, experts in this field argue that nature’s failure to weed out depression in the evolutionary process (despite the obvious disadvantages in terms of survival and reproduction) is due precisely to the fact that depression as an adaptation plays <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027858460600008X?via%3Dihub">a useful role</a> in times of adversity, by helping the depressed individual disengage from risky and hopeless situations in which he or she cannot win. Depressive ruminations can also have a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2734449/">problem solving function</a> during difficult times.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284485/original/file-20190717-147307-mp1cym.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284485/original/file-20190717-147307-mp1cym.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284485/original/file-20190717-147307-mp1cym.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284485/original/file-20190717-147307-mp1cym.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284485/original/file-20190717-147307-mp1cym.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284485/original/file-20190717-147307-mp1cym.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284485/original/file-20190717-147307-mp1cym.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where is happiness located?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain#/media/File:Cerebral_lobes.png">Gutenberg Encyclopedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Morality</h2>
<p>The current global happiness industry has some of its roots in Christian morality codes, many of which will tell us that there is a moral reason for any unhappiness we may experience. This, they will often say, is due to our own moral shortcomings, selfishness and materialism. They preach a state of virtuous psychological balance through renunciation, detachment and holding back desire.</p>
<p>In fact, these strategies merely try to find a remedy for our innate inability to enjoy life consistently, so we should take comfort in the knowledge that unhappiness is not really our fault. It is the fault of our natural design. It is in our blueprint.</p>
<p>Advocates of a morally correct path to happiness also disapprove of taking shortcuts to pleasure with the help of psychotropic drugs. George Bernard Shaw said: “We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.” Well-being apparently needs to be earned, which proves that it is not a natural state. </p>
<p>The inhabitants of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World live perfectly happy lives with the help of “soma”, the drug that keeps them docile but content. In his novel, Huxley implies that a free human being must inevitably be tormented by difficult emotions. Given the choice between emotional torment and content placidity, I suspect many would prefer the latter.</p>
<p>But “soma” doesn’t exist, so the problem isn’t that accessing reliable and consistent satisfaction by chemical means is illicit; rather that it’s impossible. Chemicals alter the mind (which can be a good thing sometimes), but since happiness is not related to a particular functional brain pattern, we cannot replicate it chemically.</p>
<h2>Happy and unhappy</h2>
<p>Our emotions are mixed and impure, messy, tangled and at times contradictory, like everything else in our lives. Research has shown that positive and negative emotions and affects can coexist in the brain relatively <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068015">independently of each other</a>. This model shows that the right hemisphere processes negative emotions preferentially, whereas positive emotions are dealt with by the left-sided brain. </p>
<p>It’s worth remembering, then, that we are not designed to be consistently happy. Instead, we are designed to survive and reproduce. These are difficult tasks, so we are meant to struggle and strive, seek gratification and safety, fight off threats and avoid pain. The model of competing emotions offered by coexisting pleasure and pain fits our reality much better than the unachievable bliss that the happiness industry is trying to sell us. In fact, pretending that any degree of pain is abnormal or pathological will only foster feelings of inadequacy and frustration.</p>
<p>Postulating that there is no such thing as happiness may appear to be a purely negative message, but the silver lining, the consolation, is the knowledge that dissatisfaction is not a personal failure. If you are unhappy at times, this is not a shortcoming that demands urgent repair, as the happiness gurus would have it. Far from it. This fluctuation is, in fact, what makes you human.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rafael Euba is affiliated with Oxleas NHS FT and The London Psychiatry Centre, which offer rTMS as a treatment for depression.</span></em></p>Happiness is a human construct, an abstract idea with no biological basis. But this is something to be happy about.Rafael Euba, Consultant and Senior Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/859472017-11-01T10:16:36Z2017-11-01T10:16:36ZWhy tax cuts make us less happy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192677/original/file-20171031-18689-17oyhxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why so grim? Oh, tax cuts.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Republicans recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/us/politics/trump-tax-cut-plan-middle-class-deficit.html">announced</a> their tax plan and are hoping to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-26/senate-gop-wants-to-pass-tax-plan-by-thanksgiving-cornyn-says">turn it into law</a> before Thanksgiving. While details are in flux, it would likely eliminate the estate tax, lower the top marginal rate and slash corporate rates, producing, in sum, what the president has dubbed a “<a href="http://nypost.com/2017/09/29/trump-touts-his-giant-beautiful-massive-tax-cut-plan/">gigantic</a>” tax cut.</p>
<p>Each of these elements, if passed, would make the tax code less progressive and reduce government revenues in ways that ultimately makes it harder to pay for programs and services. Since the purpose of public policy should be to improve citizens’ lives and well-being, the obvious question to consider in evaluating this plan is whether it does that. Or put another way, will the tax plan make most Americans happier?</p>
<p>Research on <a href="http://www.nber.org/reporter/2008number2/blanchflower.html">happiness economics</a> suggests two vantage points to use in considering this question. </p>
<p>The first concerns how progressive a tax system is. Simply put, are societies happier when the wealthy bear a proportionately higher share of taxes? The second is the total level of taxation. That is, whether higher taxes make people more or less happy because the government takes more of their earnings and spends it on services like health care or infrastructure. </p>
<p>Let us consider each in turn.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192715/original/file-20171031-18738-12v1p4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192715/original/file-20171031-18738-12v1p4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192715/original/file-20171031-18738-12v1p4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192715/original/file-20171031-18738-12v1p4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192715/original/file-20171031-18738-12v1p4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192715/original/file-20171031-18738-12v1p4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192715/original/file-20171031-18738-12v1p4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While everyone hates filing their taxes, research suggests paying more (if well spent) can make us happier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">a katz/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The importance of ‘tax morale’</h2>
<p>A <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797611420882">recent article</a> in the peer-reviewed journal Psychological Science suggests that countries with a more progressive tax system are in fact happier than those where tax rates are flatter.</p>
<p>In this piece, three psychologists compare the progressiveness of a nation’s tax system with various measures of happiness. They find clear and unequivocal evidence that progressive taxes “are positively associated with subjective well-being.” In other words, a country’s citizens are happier when the wealthy bear a larger share of the taxes. </p>
<p>This conclusion holds not just when using simple correlations. It also holds under sophisticated statistical analyses that control for other national factors, such as GDP per capita and income inequality, as well as for individual factors like income, gender, age and marital status.</p>
<p>One reason for this is that the link between income and happiness is strongest for the poor and middle class. Nobel Laureates Angus Deaton and Daniel Kahneman demonstrated that happiness increases with income until a certain threshold is reached at which the returns in terms of well-being <a href="http://time.com/money/4070041/angus-deaton-nobel-winner-money-happiness/">progressively diminish</a>. That means that while income lost to taxes harms the poor and middle class – who tend to spend most of what they earn – it does not trouble the affluent – whose satisfaction with life is much less affected by a marginal increase in tax burden.</p>
<p>Another reason might be what scholars call “tax morale.” This refers to the extent to which people accept a moral obligation to pay taxes as their contribution to society. In turn, this implies a belief that a tax system is fair.</p>
<p>Existing research clearly indicates, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/4/14/15297488/tax-poll-rich-pay-more">common sense suggests</a>, that <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11127-011-9848-1">tax morale is higher the more progressive a system is</a> – that is, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/29/even-republicans-think-the-rich-arent-paying-their-fair-share-in-taxes-but/?utm_term=.6800249d70ed">“fair” system</a> is one in which the rich pay a disproportionate share – and that <a href="http://kie.vse.cz/wp-content/uploads/Lubian-Zarri-2011.pdf">people with greater tax morale are happier</a>. So, logically, if progressive taxation increases tax morale, and tax morale increases happiness, more progressive taxes mean higher levels of happiness.</p>
<p>This is not good news for Americans, however. </p>
<p>The U.S. tax system is <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797611420882">one of the least progressive</a> in the Western world and is <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2012/04/13/just-how-progressive-is-the-u-s-tax-code/">considerably less so</a> than it was just a few decades ago.</p>
<p>And this is also bad news for the Republican tax plan – if the GOP and President Donald Trump want to make Americans happier. </p>
<p>The highly respected Tax Policy Center’s <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/preliminary-analysis-unified-framework">detailed analysis of the plan</a> shows that benefits are heavily skewed toward the wealthiest. The current proposal will benefit the 1 percent handsomely, increasing their incomes by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonynitti/2017/09/29/despite-promises-to-the-contrary-trump-tax-plan-heaps-biggest-benefits-on-the-rich/#36929c7555eb">more than 8 percent</a>. Meanwhile the working and middle classes receive minimal benefits, if any – and they <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tax-reform-plan-analysis-study-rich-rates-2017-9">may even see their taxes increase</a>. </p>
<p>While nothing is certain until the ink is dry, their bill most likely will result in a more regressive tax system that likely will make most Americans less happy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192682/original/file-20171031-18686-1xaxlwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192682/original/file-20171031-18686-1xaxlwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192682/original/file-20171031-18686-1xaxlwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192682/original/file-20171031-18686-1xaxlwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192682/original/file-20171031-18686-1xaxlwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192682/original/file-20171031-18686-1xaxlwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192682/original/file-20171031-18686-1xaxlwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No one likes paying taxes, including the president.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Mary Altaffer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What taxes do</h2>
<p>But what about connection between the total tax burden and the national level of happiness?</p>
<p>Surely no one likes being taxed, but taxation is the mechanism by which society provides a great many things that people do like, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, not to mention good schools, good roads and safe neighborhoods.</p>
<p>“Big government” programs <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-economy-happiness/201511/why-is-denmark-the-happiest-country-in-the-world">benefit everyone</a> for the obvious reason that <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/77/3/1119/2233857/Do-Social-Welfare-Policies-Reduce-Poverty-A-Cross">they reduce poverty</a> and alienation, thus lowering the social problems such as <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=7RouAgAAQBAJ&dq=crime+rates+welfare+state+messner&source=gbs_navlinks_s">crime</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-008-9252-5">suicide</a> that these conditions produce. </p>
<p>In turn, it seems obvious that virtually all people, regardless of social class or political ideology, are happier when there is less poverty and less insecurity. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-economy-happiness/201511/why-is-denmark-the-happiest-country-in-the-world">Much peer-reviewed academic research</a> has documented just that. </p>
<p>Whether <a href="https://www-cambridge-org.proxy.library.nd.edu/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/assessing-the-welfare-state-the-politics-of-happiness/25B7F407E09233323C46106F2EB75AF4">looking across countries</a> or <a href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.proxy.library.nd.edu/doi/abs/10.1017/S0022381610000241">across U.S. states</a>, people – both rich and poor – tend to be happier in places where government provides a greater array of social protections and services. Hence, the closer we approach what Europeans call social democracy – and Americans call New Deal programs – the more people <a href="https://academic-oup-com.proxy.library.nd.edu/sf/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/sf/sou010">tend to find life satisfying</a>.</p>
<p>If taxpayer-funded government programs make people happy, then we should find a link between the level of tax burden and happiness. And in fact, that’s what we find by <a href="http://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/tax-database.htm">examining a wide range of countries</a> in the Western world.</p>
<p>For example, Denmark, generally considered <a href="http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2017">the world’s happiest country</a>, also has the highest tax burden of any of industrial democracy, with about <a href="http://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/tax-database.htm">half of all income</a> going to the tax man in 2014. Conversely, the <a href="http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2017/">least happy</a> are also the least taxed, namely South Korea and Turkey, which pay 25 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Yet, despite their low taxes, <a href="http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2017/">South Korea</a> ranks just 58th in happiness, between Moldova and Romania, while Turkey ranks even lower at 69th, just below Libya.</p>
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<p>We cannot of course generalize from a few examples, nor can we assume that taxation (and the spending taxation allows) are the only causes of happiness. To make strong claims about the nexus between taxation and well-being requires the rigorous and systematic analysis found in the peer-reviewed academic literature.</p>
<p>In “<a href="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/political-economy/political-economy-human-happiness-how-voters-choices-determine-quality-life?format=PB#02kj7KOTYZtHu66G.97">The Political Economy of Human Happiness</a>,” one of us (Radcliff) examined individual-level data on 21 countries over three decades and found that people are happier as tax burden increases.</p>
<p>This held even when accounting for other factors known to affect happiness such as income, health, employment status, gender, age, race, education, religion and so on. Similarly, the national or aggregate level of happiness went up or down with the level of taxation (again, controlling for other factors). </p>
<p>The same positive connection between tax burden and happiness was reported in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2011.00290.x/abstract">a 2011 paper</a>, while <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/92/4/1241/2235843/Assessing-the-Impact-of-the-Size-and-Scope-of">another article</a> found that life satisfaction varies positively with the total amount of governmental “consumption” of the economy, that is the level of taxation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192735/original/file-20171031-18735-1aw355v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192735/original/file-20171031-18735-1aw355v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192735/original/file-20171031-18735-1aw355v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192735/original/file-20171031-18735-1aw355v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192735/original/file-20171031-18735-1aw355v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192735/original/file-20171031-18735-1aw355v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192735/original/file-20171031-18735-1aw355v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supreme Court Justice and Republican Oliver Wendell Holmes argued taxes were necessary to keep society civilized.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Justice_Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_at_desk.jpg">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The price of a ‘civilized society’</h2>
<p>While details of the Republican tax plan could change drastically, it is certain to reflect core Republican values like lowering tax rates and smaller government.</p>
<p>Republicans tend to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/business/economy/republican-presidential-candidates-rally-around-flat-tax.html?_r=0">favor a flat tax</a> because they argue it’s fairer. And they want to reduce the tax burden overall because they think people are better off with more money in their pockets and fewer government services. Scholarly research by us and others suggest they are wrong on both counts, at least in so far as human happiness is concerned.</p>
<p>The familiar aphorism, usually attributed to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, notes that “<a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Jr.">taxes are the price we pay</a> for a civilized society,” a sentiment chiseled into the side of the IRS building. </p>
<p>We believe research into the economics of happiness would take this sentiment one step farther: Taxes are the price we pay for a happy society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85947/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Republican tax plan would ultimately make the current system less progressive while reducing the overall burden, two things research shows make countries less happy.Michael Krassa, Chair, Human Dimensions of Environmental Systems and Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignBenjamin Radcliff, Professor of Political Science, University of Notre DameLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/663072016-10-11T15:08:07Z2016-10-11T15:08:07ZCan money buy you happiness? It’s complicated<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141252/original/image-20161011-12002-12yhquj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jack Frog</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Consumer society is growing fast around the globe. In 2011 it was estimated that 1.7 billion people were living in what is considered to be the <a href="http://www.worldwatch.org/node/810">“consumer class”</a> – and nearly half of them are in the developing world. Consumption of goods and services has <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.CON.PRVT.CD">grown at a staggering rate over the past few decades</a> and prompts us to ask: does it makes us happy? The answer’s not as simple as you might think. </p>
<p>As a starting point, it is useful to look at <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1A2siA19hKYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">reported life satisfaction</a> across the globe. In richer nations, people usually buy more products and services. Hence if consumption genuinely made people happier, one would expect people to be happier in wealthy countries. </p>
<p>It is true that people in rich nations report greater levels of life satisfaction (one measure of determining <a href="http://worldhappiness.report/">happiness</a>) than those in poor ones. However, the picture looks a little different when comparing moderately and very wealthy countries as there is no difference between the two. This indicates that money and increased material wealth does not necessarily equal higher levels of happiness.</p>
<h2>Being materialistic</h2>
<p>In the past few decades, people in richer industrialised societies have become increasingly materialistic. There are two key reasons for this – first, because we learn by observing others, it has become acceptable. And second, because people use products as a means to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-psychology-behind-retail-therapy-2012-11?IR=T">fill a psychological void</a> in their life. The latter is, at least partially, affected by marketing messages consistently telling us that consumption is the path to happiness. </p>
<p>So when people feel they are lacking something in their lives they try to replace it with material possessions. But this often fails, as people usually misjudge what will make them happy. So what often happens is that people get a temporary boost from a particular purchase, but the pleasure tends to fade with time as they adapt to having it, leaving them unsatisfied. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141212/original/image-20161011-11998-1hqarrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141212/original/image-20161011-11998-1hqarrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141212/original/image-20161011-11998-1hqarrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141212/original/image-20161011-11998-1hqarrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141212/original/image-20161011-11998-1hqarrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141212/original/image-20161011-11998-1hqarrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141212/original/image-20161011-11998-1hqarrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spend, spend, spend!</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">alice-photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They then search for another product that can provide an even stronger pleasurable feeling – but, as before, it will again fade away. This continues as if we are on a forever spinning wheel of consumption. With <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:JOHS.0000005719.56211.fd">every search for a new pleasing purchase</a>, expectations subconsciously rise – and the result is that we often feel a need to increase the number of purchases made or to spend more money.</p>
<h2>Feelings of insecurity</h2>
<p>How consumers feel about themselves also dictate consumption patterns. Highly materialistic individuals tend to value possessions that are expensive, seen as high status and are easily spotted and recognised by other people. This is because materialism is related to <a href="http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/cs/personal%20well-being.pdf">a lack of self-esteem</a>. Hence, feelings of insecurity lead to a concern about what others think about them – which in turn leads to attempts to gain approval from others by owning desirable products.</p>
<p>This lack of confidence often originates from what kind of toys we played with in childhood. Many girls, for example, are exposed to unrealistic views of what women should look like when they are given toys like <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35670446">Barbie dolls</a>. This unrealistic view is then internalised and can be carried over into adulthood. A <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37543769">recent report</a> suggests that approximately 40% of girls and young women lack confidence in how they look. To alleviate the disappointment with their appearance, they are likely to embark on a quest to purchase products they believe will make them more attractive. </p>
<p>The media also plays a big role in stripping people of self-esteem. Women’s magazines are designed to encourage them to consume expensive clothes, make-up and lifestyle objects to mitigate the insecurities they feel by comparing themselves and their lives to the models and celebrities inside. </p>
<p>Men can be affected by the media in similar ways – an increasing number of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/mens-grooming-is-now-a-multi-billion-pound-worldwide-industry-a6813196.html">men are influenced by magazines to consume clothes and beauty items</a>. When such insecurities are established, the appeal of consumption tends to increase – people are sold the message that they can buy “the very thing” that will help alleviate their insecure feelings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141207/original/image-20161011-11991-1vtzj19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141207/original/image-20161011-11991-1vtzj19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141207/original/image-20161011-11991-1vtzj19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141207/original/image-20161011-11991-1vtzj19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141207/original/image-20161011-11991-1vtzj19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141207/original/image-20161011-11991-1vtzj19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141207/original/image-20161011-11991-1vtzj19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">That old sports car feeling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AS Inc</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not all doom and gloom</h2>
<p>Even though it seems that consumption is not synonymous with happiness it is not quite as straightforward as that. One key component for good mental health is to have a solid social support network. A constant pursuit of material possessions makes people disregard aspects of life that can contribute to general well-being, such as a healthy friendship network. </p>
<p>It may therefore seem like a paradox that purchasing experiences can be the way to generate better social connections. Purchases made with the intention of <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/gpr/9/2/132/">having an experience</a>, such as a ski holiday or possibly <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37550679">something more unusual</a> – such as “being” a celebrity for the day – can boost a person’s sense of happiness. This is often not because of the gratification caused by the thing itself but because it provides people with an opportunity to discuss their experiences with others. The joy of such an experience is that its benefits are subjective and thus not easy to compare – unlike a new mobile phone – which may not be as fancy as someone else’s. Consequently, you are not as likely to feel negative by having a “worse” experience than someone else. </p>
<p>Perhaps the question that needs asking is not if consumption leads to happiness, but whether what we consume leads to happiness. As we are approaching the time of year when consuming often reaches an all-time high (<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/shopping-deals/black-friday-best-deals-2016-6630912">Black Friday</a>, <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/cyber-monday-2016-big-deals-6825898">Cyber Monday</a> and Christmas), it is worth reflecting on whether the purchases you make are going to genuinely fulfil your desires. Ask yourself if you should be buying more products, or whether it may be the time to buy theatre tickets for your friends to foster stronger social relationships.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The author will be giving a talk on the subject of consumption and happiness as part of the <a href="http://www.anglia.ac.uk/community-engagement/cfi2016-consumption-happiness">Cambridge Festival of Ideas</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cathrine Jansson-Boyd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People are buying more and more things. But does that make them more contented?Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, Reader in Consumer Psychology, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/524172016-01-25T10:44:17Z2016-01-25T10:44:17ZDirect democracy may be key to a happier American democracy<p>Is American democracy still “by the people, for the people?”</p>
<p>According to recent <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714001595">research</a>, it may not be. Martin Gilens at Princeton University confirms that the wishes of the American working and middle class play essentially no role in our nation’s policy making. A BBC story rightly summarized this with the headline: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746">US Is an Oligarchy, Not a Democracy.</a></p>
<p>However <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11205-015-1085-4">new research</a> by Benjamin Radcliff and Gregory Shufeldt suggests a ray of hope. </p>
<p>Ballot initiatives, they argue, may better serve the interests of ordinary Americans than laws passed by elected officials. </p>
<h2>Busy ballot initiative year</h2>
<p>Today, 24 states allow citizens to directly vote on policy matters. </p>
<p>This year, more than 42 initiatives already are approved for the ballot in 18 states.</p>
<p>Voters in California will decide diverse questions including banning <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-california-plastic-bag-ban-20150223-story.html">plastic</a> bags, voter approval of state expenses greater than US$2 billion dollars, improving school funding, and the future of <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2014/09/california_voters_to_get_chanc.html">bilingual education</a>. </p>
<p>The people of Colorado will vote on replacing their current medical insurance programs with a <a href="http://iowapublicradio.org/post/coloradans-will-put-single-payer-health-care-vote#stream/0">single payer system</a>, and in Massachusetts people may consider legalizing <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/12/02/the-marijuana-legalization-push-mass-just-got-little-more-clear/ysj6Ow9JBCocrMRwERAEdJ/story.html">recreational marijuana</a>. </p>
<h2>‘By the people’ – or not so much?</h2>
<p>Our founders would have been ambivalent about so much direct democracy. </p>
<p>Although the country was founded on the notion that people are happier when they have a say in government, the founders were not optimistic about the ability of people to govern themselves too directly. James Madison, the “father” of the Constitution, <a href="http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa10.htm">famously argued</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By the late nineteenth century, <a href="https://archive.org/details/midwestenprogres012824mbp">average Americans felt excluded</a> from a representative system they saw as becoming a plutocracy. Much like today, Americans then saw government controlled by the rich and corporate. This gave rise to the Populist Era in which citizens demanded government be more responsive to their needs. Most Populist Era reforms were expansions of direct democracy. <a href="http://www.westga.edu/%7Ehgoodson/Politics%20and%20Reform.htm">Examples include</a> the popular election of Senators, a primary system for picking party candidates, and woman’s suffrage.</p>
<p>South Dakota adopted a system of “initiative, referendum, and recall” in <a href="http://www.iandrinstitute.org/South%20Dakota.htm">1898</a>. Oregon and California quickly followed, and the system was adopted by another dozen <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/initiative-referendum-and-recall-overview.aspx">states</a> in under 10 years. </p>
<p>It’s been a slow build ever since. Most recently, Mississippi gave citizens the initiative in 1992. That brings us to a total of 24 states, plus the District of Columbia, now recognizing some form of direct democracy. </p>
<h2>Truly democratic?</h2>
<p>However, many have pointed to problems with direct democracy in the form of ballot initiatives. </p>
<p><a href="http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2175&context=fac_pubs">Maxwell Sterns</a> at the University of Maryland, for example, writes that legislatures are better because initiatives are the tools of special interests and minorities. In the end, initiatives are voted upon by an unrepresentative subset of the population, Sterns concludes.</p>
<p><a href="http://scholarship.law.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2271&context=mlr">Others</a> like Richard Ellis of Willamette University argue that the time-consuming process of gathering signatures introduces a bias toward moneyed interests. Some suggest this has damaged direct democracy in California, where professional petition writers and<a href="http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1968141,00.html">paid signature gatherers </a>dominate the process. Moneyed interests also enjoy a natural advantage in having the resources that ordinary people lack to mount media campaigns to support their narrow interests.</p>
<p>To curb this kind of problem, bans on paying people per signature are proposed in many states, but have not yet passed any legislature. However, because Californians like direct democracy in principle, they have recently <a href="http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/09/27/big-changes-to-california-initiative-process-signed-by-jerry-brown/">amended the process</a> to allow for a review and revision, and they require mandatory disclosures about the funding and origins of ballot initiatives.</p>
<p>Finally, some say initiatives can be confusing for voters, like the two <a href="http://marijuanapolitics.com/the-anti-democracy-ohio-issue-2/">recent Ohio propositions</a> concerning marijuana, where one ballot proposition essentially canceled out the other. Similarly, Mississippi’s <a href="http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/10/24/initiative-42-confusion-mississippi-education-funding-ballot/74216362/">Initiative 42</a> required marking the ballot in two places for approval but only one for disapproval, resulting in numerous nullified “yes” votes.</p>
<h2>Routes to happiness</h2>
<p>Despite these flaws, our research shows that direct democracy might improve happiness in two ways. </p>
<p>One is through its psychological effect on voters, making them feel they have a direct impact on policy outcomes. This holds even if they may not like, and thus vote against, a particular proposition. The second is that it may indeed produce policies more consistent with human well being.</p>
<p>The psychological benefits are obvious. By allowing people literally to be the government, just as in ancient <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-greece-democracy">Athens</a>, people develop higher levels of <a href="https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10036/64393">political efficacy</a>. In short, they may feel they have some control over their lives. Direct democracy can give people <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=99757">political capital</a> because it offers a means by which citizens may place issues on the ballot for popular vote, giving them an opportunity both to set the agenda and to vote on the outcome.</p>
<p>We think this is important today given America’s declining faith in government. <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2015/11/23/1-trust-in-government-1958-2015/">Overall today</a> only 19 percent believe the government is run for all citizens. The same percentage trusts government to mostly do what is right. The poor and working classes are even more alienated. </p>
<h2>The survey says</h2>
<p>Our evidence comes from surveys of the American public large enough to allow comparisons across states. </p>
<p>Specifically, we used DDB-Needham Advertising’s <a href="http://ddbnorthamerica.com/category/lifestylestudy/">Life Style Studies</a>. Beginning in 1975, this study annually asks large numbers of Americans about trends, behaviors, beliefs and opinions. The study uses such large samples we can directly examine the impact of initiatives on satisfaction in spite of the fact that it has multiple state and individual level causes.</p>
<p>The statistical evidence is clear.</p>
<p>Life satisfaction is measurably higher in <a href="http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345157c669e2013488a903e4970c-pi">states that allow initiatives</a> than in those that do not. This holds even when controlling for a large range of other factors, including income, education, race, age, gender, employment status, personal health, marital status, and church attendance. </p>
<p>We found that satisfaction also increases with the cumulative use of initiatives over time. In other words, the more frequently a state has used initiatives to create its current policies, the happier people are. While it is difficult to quantify the increase in happiness due to the complexity of the statistical models, it’s possible to say that living in a state that allows initiatives has about as much impact on happiness as one’s gender, but less impact than marriage or employment status.</p>
<p>States that use the initiative tend to have policies that help protect citizen prosperity, health, and security, all of which <a href="https://theconversation.com/profs-small-government-is-bad-for-your-pursuit-of-happiness-46000">contribute to greater happiness</a>.</p>
<p>This may be because citizens themselves use the initiative process to implement laws that directly aid them. Or it could be that legislators are more attentive to citizen well being in states that have mechanisms for initiative, referendum, and recall. Either way, the net impact on both satisfaction and well being is positive.</p>
<p>Perhaps more importantly, the study finds that lower and middle income people benefit most from initiatives. Simply put, the happiness of the rich and powerful in a state increases less (or even declines slightly) relative to happiness boost that ordinary citizens receive. </p>
<p>In other words, the greatest increase goes to those who are the least happy to begin with, effectively reducing the “satisfaction inequality” between the rich and poor. </p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article was revised on Jan. 29, 2016 to add what factors were controlled for, and better describe how much happiness increased.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52417/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Data shows that voters organizing ballot initiatives on issues like marijuana use and plastic bag bans are doing more than creating DIY laws – they are spreading happiness.Benjamin Radcliff, Professor of Political Science, University of Notre DameMichael Krassa, Chair, Human Dimensions of Environmental Systems and Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.