Money, Wealth, and Happiness

Tyler Cowen at the Marginal Revolution is writing a book on welfare economics. It will surely challenge much of the nonsense I was forced to learn 68 years ago in grad school. He has recently posted a portion of the text, discussing the question of whether wealthier people are happier.

I love the question. I was first introduced to it by Tibor Scitovsky's classic, The Joyless Economy.

My low-brow reaction is that if I didn't think more stuff would make me happier, I'd stop working as hard as I do.

Please. No comments about my not being a rational maximizer.