waltondammerung

Oh, my good Lord (Layard)!

As of last week, I am pleased to announce, money can, indeed, buy happiness. Happiness is available in a 310-page hard-bound, blue and yellow volume at your local bookstore. Of course, the author of this ambitious tome--British economist Lord Richard Layard--would dispute that tooth and nail all the way to the bank where he cashes his royalty checks. According to Lord Layard, the problem with modern government is that it expends all of its energy aiding its citizens in the pursuit of wealth rather than the pursuit of happiness. Wealth has a diminishing marginal return when it comes to happiness, says Layard. Government should concentrate on less tangible sources of happiness, such as family, health, financial situation (how is that not money?), work (money?), community, personal freedom and values, and friends. In the meantime, let's get rid of economic incentives to work harder.

I'm all in favor of family, health, and friends, but I think Lord Layard is missing his mark. There are a lot of things wrong with his theory. I am sure I'm neither the first nor the last person to roll my eyes and succumb to a sudden desire to rant upon reading about it. Since I am neither economist nor political scientist, though, I will limit myself to a single criticism. I think of the truly happy people I know. Even out of that fairly homogenous pool, it is hard to think of a common set of circumstances in their lives that could cause their happiness. The one thing I have noted is that their happiness isn't caused by or dependent upon their circumstances. Their happiness seems to arise from a determination to be content with their circumstances.

Most of the seven conditions that Lord Layard thinks lead to happiness seem to me to be more the results of an attitude that seeks to see good and be satisfied than actual causes of happiness. There is a correlation, Lord Layard, but the causal relationship goes the other way. Good family relationships, for instance, don't come from a government program that has taught us "values" but from a willingness to love, forgive one another, and sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the happiness and well-being of our loved ones. Similarly, many people I know have finally gotten their "dream" jobs, and are just as unhappy doing them as a lot of us paper pushers doing something we never expected to be doing. If I have an attitude that looks for the good in my job, I can usually be relatively happy at my job. Yet the government is supposed to create a working environment for an entire nation that makes everyone happy? All the government programs in the world won't help someone who is determined to be discontent. I'm not saying that circumstances never contribute to happiness or unhappiness, just that, ultimately, we look at our circumstances the way we want to see them. Happiness is an attitude, not a set of circumstances. Money can't buy happiness... and neither can social programs that attempt to engineer our circumstances to force everyone into greater contentment. Unless, of course, the government starts subsidizing pot.