C1 Business Digest C2 EDITORIAL A36-37 EdiTheials: The next Alan Greenspan; 10 years and counting; Austria's shoddy gambit on Turkey; net national happiness.
Net human happiness should be vastly increased, not decreased, by this process — but, unfortunately, capitalism doesn't work that way.
Suppose, that is, that to judge that an act is wrong is to imply that the act leads to a lower net balance of happiness over unhappiness (summed over everyone affected) than some alternative act would.
Indeed, the psychological term "hedonic treadmill" is applied to the human tendency to experience a rise in desires and expectations in tandem with material gain such as innovative new products or a raise in salary, meaning there is no permanent or net gain in happiness.
An ego is 42% (6% to 95%) more likely to be happy if a friend who lives less than half a mile (0.8 km) away becomes happy (net of controls, including ego's baseline happiness).
As the recent riots at a Foxconn factory in northern China demonstrate, growth alone, even at sustained, spectacular rates, has not produced the kind of life satisfaction crucial to a stable society — an experience that shows how critically important good jobs and a strong social safety net are to people's happiness.
We've also seen an increase in Net Promoter Score, engagement, and happiness, which is obviously our No. 1 goal as a company.
Although people making less than $10,000 are 50percentt more likely to commit suicide than those with incomes above $60,000, the San Francisco Federal Reserve paper shows that comparing yourself to those around you might have a larger impact on happiness than personal net worth.
However, for a few cases, average self-assessed happiness and average observed net desirability are clearly at odds due to the influence of factors that are not captured by existing happiness indexes.
The birth this week of Simpson's baby girl, Maxwell Drew, is only going to add to her estimated $100 million net worth (not to mention her happiness. Duh!).
