I recently traveled to the Middle East. As it is my custom, I always buy the latest issue of the "Economist". In the November 27, 2010 I read an intersting article in the finance and economics section entitled "The Joyless or the Jobless".
The article introduces the topic by discussing briefly the 2006 notion by professor Richard Layard from the London School of Economics arguing that unhappiness was a bigger social problem in Britain than unemployment. The professor went on to point out that more people were claiming incapacity benefits because of depression and other mental disorders than were on the dole (welfare).
With the advent of the economic crisis, it seems that this issue has fixed the problem. The jobless now outnumber the joyless -- there is nothing like a decline in GDP to make everyone aware how much this peculiar metric matters.
Professor Layard has long argued that GDP is overrated as a gauge of a country's well being. Once an economy reaches an income level of $ 15,000 per person, he goes on to point out, economic growth ceases to contribute to happiness. He cites, as an example, that although the average US income is more than Denmark's, there is no evidence that Americans are happier than the Danes. Professor Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson from the Whaton School at the University of Pennsylvania question their colleague's conclusion since they were unable to find a significant statistical proof in the satisfaction test of the proposition.
Academics differ on the value of happiness in policy making. Their disagreement is rooted in the political orientation of those making it -- for or against.
The Declaration of Independence in America mentions happiness as the uneniable right of every person to pursue it, and not by the government to make it its policy. If people know what makes them happy, but do little to pursue it as a goal, there is nothing that the government can do about it.
Studies at Cornell University by professors Daniel Benjamin, Ori Heffetz and Alex Rees-Jones, and Miles Kimbal from the University of Michigan show that, in their study, 70% of respondents would be happier to earn less money and sleeping more. Likewise, almost 2/3 would be happier earning less money and living close to their friends, rather than more money in a city of strangers.
These findings suggest that money is not everything.
But ask people what they would choose as opposed to what would make them happy, and their answers may surprise us: 17% of those who would be happier sleeping more and earning less would still choose the higher paying job. 26% of those prizing short commutes over low rents would still opt for the cheaper home; and 22% of those who value closeness to friends more than higher pay would still move to where they can make more money.
Money may not buy happiness. But why take the chance?
Sobering thoughts about a subject of regular discourse amongst HR professionals. Don't you think?
Enjoy your journey along the learning curve.
