Happiness and The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth

Submitted by tonyplant on August 30, 2006 - 08:40.

Polly Toynbee has written a piece asking "why have we never had it so good". She argues that:

There has never been a better time to be alive in Britain than today, no generation more blessed, never such opportunity for so many. And things are getting better all the time, horizons widening, education spreading, everyone living longer, healthier, safer lives.

However, it doesn’t seem as if all of these "[u]nimaginable luxuries and choices" have increased our happiness levels: it is also not clear that the opportunities and benefits that she describes with such approbation are available to all. Many people are involuntary participants in the postcode lottery that governs whether or not you are eligible for a variety of procedures on the NHS (e.g., cardiac catheter ablations). And the increase in foreign travel and holidays is limited: the number of British people who did not take a holiday over the course of a year has remained stable at 41 per cent over the last three decades.

Brad DeLong has posted an extensive and interesting review of Ben Friedman's thought-provoking The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth.

read more | add new comment | resilience | happystance | happiness | friedman | economic growth | depression | conspiracy theory

Happiness and The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth

Submitted by tonyplant on January 3, 2006 - 18:26.

Polly Toynbee has written a piece asking "why have we never had it so good". She argues that:

 

There has never been a better time to be alive in Britain than today, no generation more blessed, never such opportunity for so many. And things are getting better all the time, horizons widening, education spreading, everyone living longer, healthier, safer lives.

However, it doesn’t seem as if all of these "[u]nimaginable luxuries and choices" have increased our happiness levels: it is also not clear that the opportunities and benefits that she describes with such approbation are available to all. Many people are involuntary participants in the postcode lottery that governs whether or not you are eligible for a variety of procedures on the NHS (e.g., cardiac catheter ablations). And the increase in foreign travel and holidays is limited: the number of British people who did not take a holiday over the course of a year has remained stable at 41 per cent over the last three decades.

Brad DeLong has posted an extensive and interesting review of Ben Friedman's thought-provoking The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth.

read more | add new comment | resilience | happystance | happiness | friedman | economic growth | depression | conspiracy theory