The happy economist

What good is happiness? It can’t buy you money – Henry Youngman

Why do we bother?

Whats the point of all this personal finance guff ?

All this frugality, hard work and seeking of an alternate way of living outside 9 to 5?

In a single word – Happiness. We do it all, so that we can be happy – but that discussion is another post at another day.

The Happy Economist

I got thinking about the ‘why’ we do this, as I have just finished reading Ross Gittin’s latest book, the Happy Economist (Ross is Sydney Morning Herald economics editor and you should check out his writing). The book is a fascinating look at happiness and what makes us happy by, as he calls it, a hard-headed economist. It also critically analyses governments belief that unending economic growth for the sake of growth is best for societies happiness. Somewhere in the dim dark past of the dismal science, they lost their way and today, we have the cult of growth as government mantra. Is that how it really has to be?

Chapter 3 “Who is Happy”

I found chapter 3 ‘who is happy’ especially fascinating. Looking at a wide variety of ‘happiness’ research:

• Gender – Women are more happy than men
• Age – the young and the old are happier than the middle. A classic U shape.
• Ethnicity – From US research, whites are happier than blacks.
• Marriage – married people are happier than unmarried people (and happier again than divorcees’)
• Children – interestingly, having kids causes you to be unhappy and it’s not until they leave home do you return to your original level of happiness (a good incentive to kick the kids out when they get to college age).
• Health – healthy people are unsurprisingly happier than unhealthy people, but only by a very small amount.
• Education – more education = more happiness
• Employment – the employed are generally happier than the unemployed.
• Religion – more religious people are happier than non-religious people.
• Beauty – good-looking people are happier than ugly people (maybe because they pick up more often?)
• County v City – People living in the country are happier with their lot than those living the in city.
• Political Views – Conservatives are happier than liberals.
• Personal traits – happier people tend to have higher self-esteem, more self-control and are more optimistic (funny that).

Moral of the story?

So, does that mean in order to be happy you need to be an older, white, women who is married without children living in the country? Thankfully for most of us the answer is no. The happiness factors noted above drives only about 10% of what makes us happy, with 50% being genetic (or inherited) and the rest being voluntary factors under your control. For example, undertaking volunteer work, talking to friends and gardening makes you happier than watching TV.

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