The Economics of Happiness

Volume 2, Issue 4, January 21-27, 2011

International Tribune

Can money really buy happiness?  Maybe if you are talking to the millions of unemployed all over the world, I believe the answer would be yes. At least for now, just to free themselves with their financial worries.   No one wants to fall short with their daily finances, neither for themselves nor for their dependents.  Financial instability has a trickle-down effect; it starts with our morale, and then it strains our personal relationships with our loved ones, and then consequently, our outward perception of how we view ourselves and our society.   Yes, indeed, it could be a great depression although a personal one.    

Just like what they say in the trading floors of the stock market, when America sneezes, the world catches cold.  Many say that the current global recession had spread from the US.  We are familiar with unemployment in the less developed world but when we see the industrial giants’ jobless rates sky rocketing, it is very alarming. Unemployment rate has hit record high in almost all the developed nations today:  France at 10 percent, Spain at 20 percent, and the United States at 9.4 percent.  It is a jobless recovery not just for America, it seems like it is the same pattern in Europe, too.  We are all in the same downward ride that is extremely difficult to halt.  If the economic power houses are on the verge of falling into a real depression, where do we go from here?   What is the antidote?  

Besides unemployment, some governments are also filing for bankruptcy.  Greece, Ireland and Portugal, are in major need of financial bailouts that can be costly at 6% interest rate (as Germany, for instance, has recently demanded of the Greek Government) to keep their economies floating.  These are once prosperous nations where many people - oftentimes illegally - immigrate to.  Many would do whatever it takes to be able to benefit in the economic and political stability they offer, a chance to live a better and happier life.   They are models that demonstrate how micro- and macro-economic conditions in the form of income and unemployment affect happiness.  

Happiness and economics spark a healthy debate over a wide range of the social sciences.  If a nation's economic performance is good or at least, stable, how much extra happiness does that buy its citizens? Most public debate assumes - without tangible evidence - that the answer is a lot.  On job satisfaction, emigration to work elsewhere would no longer be necessary and the family structure is kept intact, and loved ones are not left behind.  On life satisfaction, we are able to afford to do fun things for our own pleasure, as simple as going to the movies or going on vacation.   Many sociologists will also account that lower rate of suicide has a lot to do with a nation’s prosperity.  Citizens are happier and live in harmony amongst themselves and their surroundings.  These are just simple things, to name a few, that most economic indicators are not able to measure.  They reveal patterns that are not visible to the anecdotal eye.

Happiness, they might say, is an ''unscientific'' concept.   Most economists have shied away from factoring this into their work.  It is an immeasurable element to observe and add as a catalyst that aids the increase of a nation’s gross domestic product. However this may now change.  Maybe after the suicide of Mohammed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old college graduate who could not find a job in Tunisia and set himself on fire to protest the lack of opportunity for someone in his social stratum has sparked a widespread revolution in his nation culminating in the flight of its dictatorial president and his kleptomaniac wife and her siblings. I guess metrics of happiness and economics is very much related.  This is no longer a phenomenon.