Replies to post #9446 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[goodluck]

Great article, thanks for finding and printing.

Money does matter in various ways. People earning under around £10,000 are measurably, permanently happier when paid more. It matters when people of any income feel a drop from what they have become used to. But above all, money makes people unhappy when they compare their own income with others'. Richer people are happier - but not because of the absolute size of their wealth, but because they have more than other people. But the wider the wealth gap, the worse it harms the rest. Rivalry in income makes those left behind more miserable that it confers extra happiness on the winners. In which case, he suggests, the winners deserve to be taxed more on the "polluter pays" principle: the rich are causing measurable unhappiness by getting out too far ahead of the rest, without doing themselves much good.

In pursuit of money, working ever harder, we are, says Layard, on a "hedonic treadmill" - a phrase that resonates with most of us. Right across Europe people report more stress, harder work, greater fear of insecurity, chasing elusive gains. The seven key factors now scientifically established to affect happiness most are: mental health, satisfying and secure work, a secure and loving private life, a safe community, freedom and moral values.

If politicians were to absorb this message - he delivered a version of this at the Smith Institute inside No 11 last week - the political implications are devastating. Virtually everything politicians can promise with any degree of certainty, depends on money - more growth, higher GDP, more things. Once they leave the terra firma of hard economics, they are in alarming territory. Politicians are not priests or moral guides: since they are now treated with (unjustified) contempt, they areunlikely to assume the mantle of the nation's happiness gurus.