Can We Be Happier? Evidence and Ethics

Richard Layard with George Ward (2020)

In a paragraph

The Happiness Principle is the overarching personal and political goal of creating happiness. The World Happiness Movement encourages a gentler, kinder culture.

Key points

• We should each of us, in all our choices, aim to produce the greatest happiness that we can – and especially the least misery.This noble vision does not go against basic human nature. For all of us have two inherited traits – one selfish and one altruistic. A happy society requires a lot of altruism, and so it needs a culture which supports our altruistic side. A gentler culture.

• So, let’s put people first and mean it. We have enough knowledge – let’s put it into action. The world happiness movement will surely go from strength to strength. What is counter-cultural today will in time become the mainstream. And the result will be a happier society.

• Everyone wants to be happy. And most people want others to be happy also – at the very least they want it for their family and friends. We also have other wants, which are quite specific – for income, health, freedom, appreciation, friendship and so on. But if we ask why these other things matter to us, we can always give some reason – for example that they will make us feel better. On the other hand, if we ask why it matters that people feel happier, we can give no further answer. Happiness is self-evidently good, and one can convincingly argue that other goods derive their value from the way in which they contribute to our happiness. So, happiness is the overarching good.

• Action for Happiness. Pledge: ‘I will try to create more happiness and less unhappiness in the world around me.’ Ten Keys to Happier Living.

• The economic method is the only way to think about policy priorities: we need to get the most benefit from any money that we spend. But the benefits should be measured in terms of happiness.

• In comparing societies, mutual respect and social ties matter.China has become less happy as social ties have weakened.

• Happiness science tends to favour a much larger state than voters do. This is because of two simple facts: the loss of happiness from taxes is quite small; and the benefits from many types of public service are very large.

• For many people this is a good time to be alive: we are happier than people were in most previous centuries. But even in the richest countries there is still much misery. Mental illness remains common, family conflict is frequent, and work is increasingly stressful. The dominant competitive culture makes most of us unnecessarily anxious and isolated from our fellows. But a better culture is available, based on the simple key idea that we judge our society by the happiness of its citizens.

• The world happiness movement is a house of many rooms. It is not a movement of drop-outs; it is a movement of people who want to engage passionately in the welfare of others, while taking care of their own inner space.

• Bentham’s idea became known as utilitarianism, but no word worse describes an idea which aims to cultivate warmth of heart and generosity. I shall instead use the term Happiness Principle.

Comments 

There are three elements to the book. First, there is a restatement of the case for the utilitarian Happiness Principle as previously made in Happiness: Lessons From A New Science. Second, suggested applications of the Principle to a series of fields are set out.  And third, the Happiness Movement is described, and its prospects for replacing individualism with a gentler and kinder culture.

The book is a very well written and researched polemic, drawing on economic expertise and years of experience in academia and public policy.   There was little that I would disagree with, and many valuable points made. 

The treatment of the Happiness Principle is briefer than in the previous book which remains the best statement of Layard’s underlying utilitarian approach.  Although there are some useful reflections on utilitarianism in the notes to the new book, in the main it concentrates  more on practical applications of utilitarianism and on Layard and the Happiness Movement.  

NOTES

Introduction: The Two Cultures

Whoever is happy will make others happy too … How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. –– Anne Frank

A new undercurrent of concern with our own inner life and with how other people feel. Despite appearances, a new gentler culture is emerging. 

What we need between individuals is mostly cooperation, not competition. 

We should each of us, in all our choices, aim to produce the greatest happiness that we can – and especially the least misery.  This noble vision does not go against basic human nature. For all of us have two inherited traits – one selfish and one altruistic. A happy society requires a lot of altruism, and so it needs a culture which supports our altruistic side. A gentler culture.

As religious belief has declined, a void has been created and into that void has rushed egotism, by default. 

There has to be a new, secular ethic, based on human need and not divine command. 

For all of us the attitude of other people is crucial. 

There needs to be a clear content to our obligation to others. I think this is best expressed in terms of happiness: our obligation is to create the most happiness that we can in the society around us. This is the ideology we need for the twenty-first century. 

This new secular ethics is the basic principle for the happiness revolution – for both individuals and governments. 

That Happiness Principle was, I believe, the most important idea of the modern age, 

with powerful implications for how we should live and how our policy-makers should act on our behalf.  This principle inspired many of the great social reforms of the nineteenth century, but it was soon challenged by philosophies that glorified struggle. 

Science of happiness, mind-training, growing world happiness movement. 

This is an extraordinarily exciting time. Cultural change can be quite rapid if the right idea arises at the right time. The Happiness Principle is an idea whose time has come. Most people now realize that economic growth, however desirable, will not solve all our problems. Instead, we need a philosophy and a science which encompasses a much fuller range of human experience. The growing influence of women in society is helping this revolution. 

Economics was originally founded in order to discover which institutions would produce the greatest happiness for the people. World Happiness Report.

Richard Easterlin. Kahneman, collected essays on Wellbeing. Martin Seligman. Richard Davidson. Matthieu Ricard. Dalai Lama. David Clark. Anthony Seldon.  Geoff Mulgan. Mark Williamson. Jeffrey Sachs. John Helliwell.

So, let’s put people first and mean it. We have enough knowledge – let’s put it into action. The world happiness movement will surely go from strength to strength. What is counter-cultural today will in time become the mainstream. And the result will be a happier society. 

PART ONE: THE HAPPINESS REVOLUTION

1: What’s the Purpose?

They have the know-how, but do they have the know-why?

The problem with multiple goals is what to do when one goal conflicts with another – 

So, in practice we have to have one overarching goal. 

Everyone wants to be happy. And most people want others to be happy also – at the very least they want it for their family and friends. We also have other wants, which are quite specific – for income, health, freedom, appreciation, friendship and so on. But if we ask why these other things matter to us, we can always give some reason – for example that they will make us feel better. On the other hand, if we ask why it matters that people feel happier, we can give no further answer. Happiness is self-evidently good, and one can convincingly argue that other goods derive their value from the way in which they contribute to our happiness. So, happiness is the overarching good. 

The Progress Principle. We should judge the state of the world by how far people are enjoying their lives – by the amount of happiness there is, especially among those who are least happy. 

The Ethical Principle. Each of us should aim, in the way we live and in the choices we make, to create the most happiness we can in the world around us, especially among those who are least happy.  Joyful living, where we care for others but also for ourselves. 

The Policy Principle.  Policy-makers should choose policies which create the greatest possible happiness, especially among those who are least happy. 

The dangerous view that life is about struggle itself rather than the fruits of struggle.  Puritanism.  What we want to see is happier lives. 

I prefer the word ‘happiness’ – people know what it means to be happy. Better than well-being. I like the life-satisfaction, single-question approach 

Aim to be a generator of happiness for yourself and others. Distinguish the happiness that a person experiences and the happiness which the same person creates.  Look more at creating happiness as a goal. 

The end is a happy society, and virtue is a means to get there. 

We should take the spread of happiness into account, as well as simply the average level of happiness. Compare Spain and Guatemala. 

How to trade off average happiness and effects on worst off?  Here personal values cannot be avoided. 

The fundamental inequality in our society is the inequality of happiness, not of income. 

If we want a happier society, we have to aim at it explicitly.

We need a single, clear concept that can inspire passion and effort because it corresponds to the basic wish of every human being – to feel good about her life. 

2: What Makes People Happy?

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts –Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Ed Diener studying ‘subjective wellbeing’. 

Happiness measured in World Values Survey etc, correlations considered.  LSE research group.

Reported happiness supported by brain measures, predictive effects, explanations of answers.  Partial correlation coeeficients.

Consider re happiness and re misery.  Get rid of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Mental health and social life are important to rich and poor alike.

World Happiness Report. Uses Gallup World Poll. Strong effects of national variables including social support, freedom, generosity and income. Uncertain benefits of rising GDP.  [Less emphatic than in Happiness.] So should not sacrifice too much for it.   Rising stress.

We need a new concept of deprivation – deprivation of happiness 

It is more important to be a happy child than to get good grades

3: Training Our Thoughts and Our Feelings

Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today. Horace.

The greatest happiness comes not from getting, but from giving. And it also requires control of your own mental activity. This can be attained through the practice of meditation.

We can work out mentally, just as we can work out physically.  Calm and caring.

4: Can the Happiness Movement Succeed?

There are two opposing strands in human nature. One says, ‘I am at the centre of the universe and my needs come first.’ The other says, ‘I owe so much to others and I must give back.’ Relative strength depends on prevailing culture 

Increasing individualism and decreasing communal concern. Populism. Social media self-advertising and stress. But an increasing gentleness in society. Falling crime. Increased influence of women – on average care more about inner feelings. Growing tolerance.  But lack of concern.

OECD ‘Beyond GDP’. UN International Day of Happiness (20 March), Annual World Happiness Report.  Gus O’Donnell subjective well-being as goal. Annual World Happiness Summit held in Miami. 

Tide of excessive individualism but gentleness.  Cultural change may come quickly.

PART TWO: WHO CAN DO WHAT?

5: Each of Us

‘Warm heart’.  Church used to promote our better selves. We need a new ethics that incorporates the best values to be found in all religions, 

Our ethics has a universal appeal, to people of faith as well as those of no faith. Love your neighbour as yourself. Principle of compassion. 

Humanist – inspire to lead good lives, promote secular society, protect the non-religious or criticise religions?

Action for Happiness.  Pledge: ‘I will try to create more happiness and less unhappiness in the world around me.’ 

Ten Keys to Happier Living. Giving, Relating, Exercising, Awareness, Trying Out, Direction, Resilience, Emotions, Acceptance. Meaning.

Management of our mental lives.  Positive thought. if our life is the usual mixture of good and bad, it will be better for us (and for those around us) if we focus mainly on the good. Let’s celebrate the glass half-full.

Exploring What Matters. Big effect on raising happiness levels. Effective Altruism.

6: Teachers

Schools are crucial to a happy society. Huge increase in distress among teenagers. 

Purpose of education is to develop capacities for a happy student, adult and the rest of society. Values. Life skills. ‘Healthy Minds’ programme. Positive Education.

7: Managers 

There is a problem with many line managers – they make the people who work for them miserable. Many people dislike work but dislike being unemployed more. The basic principles of good work organization are three: autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

8. Health Professionals

Happiness is the highest form of health – Dalai Lama.

NICE. QALYs: Quality-Adjusted Life-Years. 

The variation in the length of life (measured by its standard deviation) is now only fourteen years, compared with twenty-nine years a century ago. 

Where policy is targeted at wellbeing, we ought to see rapidly rising spending on health care. 

9. Families

The top priority for each of us should be to sustain our feelings for our partner.

We need a new concept of success, where we succeed if we use our talents to create as much happiness as we can in the world. 

10. Communities

Being lonely is as bad for your health as smoking.

11. Economists

The ultimate purpose of economics, of course, is to understand and promote the enhancement of well-being. 

Alone among disciplines, economics gives us a framework for choosing priorities. This framework has three elements. First, there is the thing which has to be maximized – the happiness of the people. Then there are the constraints – resources, technology and human nature. And, finally, there are the policy levers – regulations, spending programmes and taxes to pay for them. The challenge is to choose those policies which produce the most happiness, while satisfying the constraints. It is a brilliant framework.

The New Cost-Benefit Analysis. HALYs – Happiness-Adjusted Life Years. 

There is currently no overall criterion – just a jumble of incommensurable objectives.

Stability and full employment. Economic fluctuations are real destroyers of happiness,

Growth is surely desirable, and it will happen anyway. It is an aspect of human creativity – we will go on finding better ways to do things as long as humans exist. But faster long-term growth is not an overriding criterion.

Active help for the unemployed linked to much tighter conditions for receiving unemployment benefits. Against a Universal Basic Income.

How can we shift people out of misery at the lowest cost? Best is expenditure on mental illness.

Services generally better than cash transfers.  Constraints on total taxation.

Spirit of mutual respect in the society.

In China, the world’s most rapidly developing major country, happiness today is little higher than it was in 1990. Breaking of social ties.

Migrants become happier mainly because the society they join is nicer – and not only because it is richer.

The economic method is the only way to think about policy priorities: we need to get the most benefit from any money that we spend. But the benefits should be measured in terms of happiness.

12. Politicians and Public Servants

The care of human life and happiness … is the only legitimate object of good government. –– Thomas Jefferson.

Most people think ‘the world today is changing too fast’. 

In the next big revolution, the state will help people to become better people 

Happiness science tends to favour a much larger state than voters do. This is because of two simple facts: the loss of happiness from taxes is quite small; and the benefits from many types of public service are very large. 

13. Scientists and Technologists

Social science should focus on what causes happiness and misery. 

Should we choose the best embryo for happiness?

14. Conclusion: Actions for Happiness

For many people this is a good time to be alive: we are happier than people were in most previous centuries. But even in the richest countries there is still much misery. Mental illness remains common, family conflict is frequent, and work is increasingly stressful. The dominant competitive culture makes most of us unnecessarily anxious and isolated from our fellows.

But a better culture is available, based on the simple key idea that we judge our society by the happiness of its citizens.

So, the basic principle of our moral philosophy should be this: that each of us tries to create the most happiness in the world that we can, especially among those who are least happy. An inspiring goal which puts the whole of life into perspective. The happiness goal also provides us with the basic principle of political philosophy

The key factors affecting our happiness are mental health, physical health, and our human relationships. 

This movement involves millions of people who believe there is more to life than income and success, and that the ultimate reality for humans is how we feel.

The world happiness movement is a house of many rooms. It is not a movement of drop-outs; it is a movement of people who want to engage passionately in the welfare of others, while taking care of their own inner space.

We ourselves have created the stress by our goals, and the way our institutions respond to them. If we change our goals, we really can produce a happier society. Future generations will be shocked by many of the unthinking and unskilful features of life today. They will be shocked at the neglect of mental illness, at the stresses imposed on our children, and at the common assumption that everyone is an egotist.

So, the world happiness movement can indeed bring in a better, gentler culture and do it fast.

Notes

I agree with Bentham that policy-makers should be indifferent about the number of births and simply attempt to secure the most (weighted) happiness-years for those who are born.

Unfortunately, the idea became known as utilitarianism, because actions were to be judged by their effects, i.e. their utility. No word worse describes an idea which aims to cultivate warmth of heart and generosity as supreme virtues. I shall use the term Happiness Principle throughout.