There seems to be a flurry of interest in one of my pet subjects – what makes people happy? Particularly, whether and how money has to do with this.

Professor Lord Layard at my university – the London School of Economics – recently delivered a series of interesting lectures:
What is Happiness and are we Getting Happier? (answer: no)
What Causes Happiness? Rethinking Public Economics and
What would make a happier society?

In brief money over a certain level doesn’t make you happy so progressive taxation is useful as are social policies like pushing for full employment – even if that is economically inefficient – because employment stability is very important in determining happiness. He also makes a particular pitch for better care for the depressed, since he notes that in the UK, “only a quarter of people now suffering from depression are being treated, and most of them just get pills from a non-specialist GP. If we really wanted to attack unhappiness, we would totally change all this, and make psychiatry a central, high-prestige part of the NHS.”

He has (rightfully) made a bit of a stir in the Guardian and the Times.

For other perspectives on this interesting subject also see this interview with Ed Deiner in New Scientist and this from a study of lottery winners from the University of Warwick. The U of W professor Andrew Oswald features alongside a Fast Company journalist (who recently wrote a related article) on a one hour long phone-in programme streamed online – The Connection.
I believe that a further examination of the subject will be coming to Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed programme as well, though it doesn’t appear on the website yet.

Just to give you a taster, here is one fascinating (and probably dubious) chart that Prof. Oswald came up with (based I assume on a person with a baseline average US income). It purports to indicate how much additional money you would have to get to compensate you for not having x:

Event Impact ( per Year )
Marriage $100,000
Children $0*
Losing job -$60,000 ( man )
Widowhood -$245,000
Poor health -$180,000 to -$220,000 ( Decline from excellent to good )

-$600,000 to -800,000 ( Decline from excellent to fair )

*”It’s one of the most surprising results,” says Oswald. “There’s no value judgment implied. All it’s saying is that people without children recorded equally high happiness levels as people with children.”

For what it’s worth, I am (normally) pretty happy, but then I have my health and am recently married…

Update (2005): Johan Norberg takes on Layard in an Australian magazine – and I respond.music ringtone nextel allmp3 6102 ringtone nokiaalcatel composer ringtonesringtones lyrics popular all1200 lg ringtone cingular3560 cellular ringtone one nokiaringtones a620free ringtone sprint 1200 lg Map