Yesterday, Tony Cookson reminded us what role freedom plays in economics, at least according to Ed Glaeser:
But that shift doesn’t mean that there isn’t a deep moral tenet – a belief in the value of human freedom – at the core of our discipline.
Some economists made that belief explicit. In the 18th century, Smith wrote, [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Happiness'
In Honor Of July 4th, Some Economists’ Takes On Freedom…
July 4th, 2011 · 8 Comments
Decision Making · Happiness · Policy
Tags: Decision Making · Happiness · Policy
This New Money And Happiness Study Is Really Getting Around…
September 14th, 2010 · 8 Comments
Happiness · Incentives
Not surprising: that the Wall Street Journal would pick up a story about new research on the relationship between money and happiness:
The study, which analyzed Gallup surveys of 450,000 Americans in 2008 and 2009, suggested that there were two forms of happiness: day-to-day contentment (emotional well-being) and overall “life assessment,” which means broader satisfaction with [...]
Tags: Happiness · Incentives
On Money, Gender And Happiness, Only A Little From The Onion…
April 16th, 2010 · 5 Comments
Happiness
You know you’re a social science geek when you read this from The Onion and it takes you a while to realize that it is, in fact, from The Onion:
BERKELEY, CA—A study published in the latest issue of the Journal Of Social Sciences revealed that the amount of time spent being happy has dropped to [...]
Tags: Happiness
On The Economics Of Bling…
November 3rd, 2009 · 14 Comments
Behavioral Econ · Happiness · Markets
Consider the following choice:
Option 1: You make $75,000 per year, the people around you make $50,000 per year.
Option 2: You make $100,000 per year, the people around you make $125,000 per year.
Traditional economic models suggest that this choice is easy- clearly more money is always better, so Option 2 is obviously superior. [...]
Tags: Behavioral Econ · Happiness · Markets
On The Importance Of Being Likable…
May 20th, 2009 · 9 Comments
Gender · Happiness
(For the record, I might have had to look up how to spell likable…even dictionary.com wasn’t clear on the matter, but, since for “likeable” it just said “see likable”, I went with the latter.)
So we all probably remember how Larry Summers got himself in trouble at Harvard for reporting on academic hypotheses and findings that males [...]