There is a minor branch of economic (twig?) that studies the determinants of happiness. Happiness does not seem to increase once a society reaches about $15,000 a year. Happiness instead is determined by relative status.
People expect, according to surveys, more wealth to make them happy, but happiness seems to depend upon relative status. So if the person in the mirror wants to get rich, on some level he needs to know that there will be plenty of poor schmucks to make them feel good. On Wed, Apr 02, 2003 at 04:40:39PM -0600, Bill Lear wrote: > On Wednesday, April 2, 2003 at 17:19:54 (-0500) Max B. Sawicky writes: > >I know the failure rate is high. > >But a person could fail more than once > >and still make it eventually. The real > >issue I think is mobility. We know there's > >a lot of immobility. Make it numbingly simple. > >Suppose you have a 90 percent chance of getting > >nowhere, and a 10 percent chance of getting > >somewhere. Somewhere in the ether is the chance > >that joining the revolution will get you somewhere. > > > >All I'm saying is that discounting the 10 percent > >chance out of hand is nuts, assuming you would > >like to appeal to intelligent persons. > > > >This oversight I think is one of the fatal flaws of > >socialism, broadly speaking. > > Socialism, or perhaps better, deep social concern for other values > besides greed, doesn't necessarily mean all-or-nothing, all-at-once. > It could offer the (short-term) choice of: > > 1) 90% chance of getting nowhere, 10% chance of getting rich, along > with increased poverty for others, failing public schools, > polluted air and water, health care for the few, etc. > > 2) 59% chance of getting 20% better, 40% chance of staying where > you are, 1% chance of getting rich, along with guaranteed health > care, parks, clean air, participation in the workplace, just > laws, fair cops, free education for all, etc. > > It would be interesting to formulate these proposals and put them > to the test, Tversky-style to see if there is preference reversal, > halo effects, whatnot. Fun and exciting for the whole family. > > > Bill > -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
