Happiness : lessons from a new science / Richard Layard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Layard, Richard, 1934-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Happiness.

Physical Description:

ix, 310 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Penguin Press, 2005.

Summary:

We All Have Views On what brings happiness, but startling new research shows we are often wrong. We may think, for example, that more money means more happiness. In fact, it's not so simple. We now have sophisticated ways of measuring how happy people are, and all the evidence shows that, on average, people are no happier today than they were fifty years ago, even though average incomes have more than doubled.

If we really want to be happier, what should we do differently? First we'd have to understand what conditions generate actual happiness, and then we would bend all our efforts to establish them. That is what this book is about-the causes of happiness and the means we have to affect it.

Until recently there was too little evidence to give good answers on this essential issue, but now, thanks to the integrated insights of psychology, neuroscience, sociology and applied economics, the distinguished economist Richard Layard shows us that we can reach some firm conclusions about the causes of happiness-conclusions that will surprise you. Happiness is an illuminating road map, grounded in hard research, pointing the way to a better, happier life for us all.

Contents:

Part 1 The Problem

1 What's the problem? 3

2 What is happiness? 11

3 Are we getting happier? 29

4 If you're so rich, why aren't you happy? 41

5 So what does make us happy? 55

6 What's going wrong? 77

7 Can we pursue a common good? 95

Part 2 What Can Be Done?

8 The Greatest Happiness: Is that the goal? 111

9 Does economics have a clue? 127

10 How can we tame the rat race? 149

11 Can we afford to be secure? 167

12 Can mind control mood? 187

13 Do drugs help? 205

14 Conclusions for today's world 223

My thanks 237.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-297) and index.

ISBN:

1594200394

OCLC:

56834341