Unemployment & Happiness
1. Introduction
Happiness is probably as the old topic. Most experts such as psychologists, philosophers, even economists concerned with the definition what is the happiness. However, there is not the concordant view for what is the happiness. Happiness should depend on different people. Some people believe that the happiness is the good goal in life. But, other people do not think happiness is the good goal in life because there are some other factors can affect the happiness such as trust, satisfaction with job, satisfaction with family's life, marriage, etc. Therefore, because happiness is a very elusive concept, we cannot judge people is happiness or unhappiness directly. Using the economics to judge happiness could be the easy way even though there are some imperfections, so that will follow the relationship between unemployment and happiness in this essay.
2. Incomes and Happiness
Most economics believe that unemployment is an unfortunate event for happiness; it has negative influence for happiness. According to common sense, it should be connected with income because people always think the less income may make happiness goes down. But is it true? Is more income better? According Easterlin Paradox, “high income do correlate happiness, but long term, increased income does not correlate with increased happiness”(1). “Richard Easterlin (1974) is the first economist to seriously study the data on happiness, he conclude that money does not buy happiness (2). There are two graph can show clearly, from 1945 to 1990, the real GDP per capita (in 1996 US$) had the huge increase that increase more than 5 times. For the average happiness, it should have the similar trend with income, but it was not. From 1...
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The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth is a book written by Mark Anielski, an ecological economist from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is a professor and CEO of family owned corporation, Anielski Management Inc. (AMI). He specializes in well-being measurement and was recognized by Adbusters as a “rising star” amongst international progressive economists. He helps communities, business and governments in measuring and managing their genuine wealth. His book, The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth, won 2 awards in 2008 which are a gold medal in Consciousness Business Leadership at the Los Angeles Nautilus Book and a bronze medal at the Axiom Book Awards in New York, with the category of Economics (International Institute of Sustainable Development, 2014). Mark is also a professor at the University of Alberta, School of Business and teaches a course in Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship (International Institute of Sustainable Development, 2014). He is also a founding faculty member of
Henry David Thoreau stated, “Wealth is the ability to truly experience life”. Money opens up new experiences, yet also gives the ability of purchasing wants and needs. Happiness and greed, two opposites, will be affected by social status. Some people say money is the root to all evil, but is that really the case? Although greed is the downfall of possessing riches, money has the ability to create happiness through assessing basic needs, attending all wants, and upholding satisfaction among everyone. By obtaining money, avarice can be avoided through how money is earned and distributed.
The article “High Incomes Don’t Bring You Happiness” verbatimly states, “Beyond $75,000, money is important for life evaluation, but does nothing for happiness, enjoyment, sadness, or stress” (Kenney 4). Those who spend prodigal amounts of money disdain plebeians because they claim that money is the foundation to living a great life. However, money only helps one meet certain needs and does not contribute in instigating true happiness within oneself. Happiness comes naturally by one’s actions and accomplishments. Although, money helps buy the commodities which satisfy one’s life, it is not the direct source for obtaining glee within a
One reason described to be a cause of happiness is income. Don Peck and Ross Douthat indicate how, “National income appears to be one of the best single predictors of overall well-being, explaining perhaps 40 percent of the difference in contentment among nations” (352). With this statement, comes the explanation of how income can influence happiness in adults who strive to earn a living. Research illustrates how, “For individual countries, with few exceptions, self-reported happiness has increased as incomes have risen” (Douthat 352). While these two statements provide sufficient evidence for the reason of income bringing happiness, income itself is not relevant.
Books, books, and more books have analyzed human misery. During its first century, psychology focused far more on negative emotions, such as depression and anxiety, than positive emotions, such as happiness and satisfaction. Even today, our texts say more about suffering than about joy. That is now changing. During the 1980sm the number of Psychological Abstract citations of "well-being," "happiness," and "life satisfaction" quintupled, to 780 articles annually. Social scientists, policy makers and laypeople express increasing interest in the conditions, traits, and attitudes that define quality of life.
I was wrong. I was so wrong. When a person is driven by success, a stopping point is unattainable, and “feeling good enough,” is unimaginable. These successes and achievements simply don 't make us happy. This lesson is proved in a study comparing happiness and money, and the result is shocking. A person needs a certain amount of money to live well and be happy... however, after a certain benchmark, no amount of money will make that person 's life any happier. In Utah, that amount is $69,750 a year. After a person reaches this amount, a cent more won 't add to their overall happiness (Short, 2014). The same can be said about monetary success... after a certain point, no amount of success, achievement, status, GPA, gold medal or Championship title will make a person any happier.
Everyone have different ways in achieving happiness. The science of happiness, is a subject that generates a great deal of debate. Yet the pursuit of happiness is more about how people deals with their surroundings. Moreover, others have discovered that happiness is relates to positive behavior in which people do in everyday life. In the book, The Happiness Advantage, by Shawn Achor, he discusses the theory that people need to pursuit happiness before they want to become success. In addition, the author presents some ideas that relate to people actions when dealing with certain problems. Therefore, the idea of behavior that people conduct in daily life is an important element to a happy life, and this is the subject of this investigation.
In summary, happiness could only be viewed from the eyes of the beholder and could only be explained from a subjective point of view. While money is essential for our very existence, money as a singular entity would not contribute to our overall happiness. The same things which we crave from the materialist world, whether it is money, houses and other luxuries, may lead to our undoing. It may be worth asking ourselves the question as to whether we spend money on the things which make our lives better, or on things which just satisfy our quest for materialistic gains. While there is no one definition of happiness, as what would make one person happy, may not necessarily make the
During this class we have been looking at many different pieces of literature that talk about happiness. Most of the stories and articles point to the same conclusion, money does make people happier until they hit a certain income then the feeling level out. The authors of the stories and articles will include other factors that cause people to be happier with their lives. There are three articles that connect very well with each other. These three include Chapter five in The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, “A Formula for Happiness” by Arthur C. Brooks, and “High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being” by Kahneman, D., & Deaton, A.
Happiness is a feeling that everyone aims to accomplish, yet some people seem to only catch a sight of it. Gratifying atonement, a state of well-being, and serenity are the more eminent elements of happiness. David G. Myers and Ed Diener propose the article “Who Is Happy?” which present aspects of happiness, a theory that recognizes adaptation, cultural world view, and personal goals. I believe through word of mouth and through those whom we look up to, we are told many myths about happiness, especially the biggest myth that money can buy happiness. In Daniel Gilbert’s “Reporting Live from Tomorrow”, he argues that the definition of happiness is not defined by wealth and that we rely on super-replicators and surrogates to make decisions that we feel will enhance our happiness. Our economic history has proven the idea of declining marginal utility. If we pursue life and liberty without happiness, our lives, quality, and value will slowly vanish, but the absence of wealth has nothing to do with one’s happiness.
So the puzzle is this: why do social scientists consistently find only moderate relationships between having more money and being happy? Some have even suggested that this moderate connection might be exaggerated. In reality money might have very little to do with happiness at all.
Throughout history, philosophers and scientists of various kinds have been trying to define happiness, identify its causes and the obstacles to reaching it. According to Jon Gertner, psychologist Gilbert and economist Loewenstein have succeeded in pointing out several reasons why people are unhappy (pp: 444-6). It is important to note that according to Gilbert, it is not that people cannot g...
..., a person who earns $25,000 is happier than a person who makes $125,000 and an employee who makes $500,000 is only slightly happier than someone who makes $55,000. Lastly, there are more important things in life that and make you happy, for example, friends. They don’t come with a price tag, and if they do, you definitely need new friends. Money won’t make you happy since good times can’t be bought. You don’t need a fancy vacation to have a good time; it’s just a matter of who you spend it with. Over the years, humans have blown the value of money way out of proportion. People make it seem like if you’re not filthy rich, then you won’t live a good life but it’s not true. You can lack money and yet still live a perfect, happy life.
Money and Happiness are two things that we have all given a lot thought. We put lots of effort into these two things either trying to earn them or trying to increase them. The connection we make between money and happiness is strange because they are two very different concepts. Money is tangible, you can quantify it, and know exactly how much of it you have at any given time. Happiness, on the other hand, is subjective, elusive, has different meanings for different people and despite the efforts of behavioral scientist and psychologist alike, there is no definitive way to measure happiness. In other word, counting happiness is much more difficult than counting dollar bills. How can we possibly make this connection? Well, money, specifically in large quantity, allows for the freedom to do and have anything you want. And in simplest term, happiness can be thought of as life satisfaction and enjoyment. So wouldn’t it make sense that the ability to do everything you desire, result in greater satisfaction with your life.
Happiness, what is it, and why do we strive to achieve it so persistently? Happiness in some points of view is portrayed as the state that is derived from self-awareness of a benefiting action or moment taking place. What of the moments that are not beneficial? Can a person still find moments of happiness and success in discord, a little glimmer of light shining from the deep recesses of our own consciousness? Plucking it from a mere moment, achieved from money, or is it so much more, happiness is the precipice that all strive to gain to better perceive their success. As a person lives, they are in a constant struggle to be happy. For instance, even the United States Constitution makes reference to the idea that every person has the inalienable right to pursue happiness. This was the resulting outcome of the enlightenment from France, spilling out into the rest of the world from 1650 through 1800. This revolutionized the idea that every single person has the inalienable right to happiness or in different views the right to succeed. As to how one peruses or conjures their happiness that is an entirely different concept and completely up to their preferred preference, but it is something that a person needs to find on their own for true success.