Food for Thought
Decline in America's Happiness Brought On by Social Capital Drop (click here to read more)
Based on General Social Survey (GSS) gold-standard data from 1975-2004, Steven Bartolini and 2 other researchers presenting a paper at Italy’s Siena University blamed America’s decline in happiness on declines in social capital (our civic and social engagement).
Discover the field of New Economics: click here to learn about the New Economics Foundation (nef)
nef (the new economics foundation) is an independent ‘think-and-do’ tank.
We believe in economics as if people and the planet mattered.
We are focused on the future and are not politically aligned. We look ahead much further than the current political cycle.
Our aim is a new economy based on social justice, environmental sustainability and collective well-being. Other organisations work on one or two of these issues, but we believe we must work on all three simultaneously if we are to address the great issues of our time.
We challenge mainstream thinking on economic, environmental and social issues and ally visionary research with making things work in practice. We start from our values, come up with innovative ideas, research them thoroughly and then test them out in practice.
One of the biggest questions being tackled in the subjective well-being/happiness literature is whether we can achieve sustainable change to our happiness level, or whether we can only achieve momentary departures from our baseline disposition.
In 2005, a team of U.S. researchers developed a comprehensive model of sustainable happiness change that integrated the major lines of the subjective well-being literature. The result was a theory which proposed that up to 50 per cent of one’s happiness was rooted in a genetically determined set-point, 10 per cent was related to circumstantial factors (nation of residence, demographics, culture, income, etc), and the remaining 40 per cent was determined by intentional activities such as pursuing goals, looking at things optimistically, and being physically active.
(BPS Research Digest Blog)
Who do you think would be the happier of these two people: Bob, an intellectual 35-year-old single, athletic, handsome white man earning $100,000 in sunny California who spends his spare time reading and going to museums? Or Mary, a sociable 65-year-old plain, black, overweight woman on dialysis, who spends most of her free time on church activities and lives with her husband in a snowy part of New York state on a joint income of $40,000?
To find out who's happier and how their experience confirms breaking findings in the field of Happiness Research, read the full article at FinancialTimes.com.
And click here for more Happiness Research related articles from Financial Times.
Did you know being happy can add years to your life?
Read this article by Mark Stibich to see how a positive outlook can increase your longevity or check out his "Top 10 Fun Ways to Live Longer."
Check out this PowerPoint from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to see how Happiness Research influences policymakers worldwide.
Inside, you'll find information on:
- the U.S.' Happy Planet Index compared to other countries,
- anticipated lifespans for future generations,
- results from a worldwide survey on the things that are most important to people,
- the top fifteen ranked countries for GDP vs. Happiness.
- and more . . .
How happy are people in the U.S. compared to other nations. The Common Ground reports that "We're Not Number One" (Click here for the full article):
WE’RE NOT NUMBER ONE
Compared, for example, to the Western European nations, the U.S. ranks worst or next-to-worst when it comes to:
• overall child welfare (UNICEF)
• health care system ranking (WHO)
• poverty rate (OECD)
• income equality — rich/poor gap (OECD)
• air pollution per capita (UN HDI)
• carbon dioxide emissions per capita (UNHDI)
• ecological footprint (Global Footprint Network)
• personal savings rate (OECD)
• income and pension security (OECD)
• balance of payments (OECD)
• municipal waste per capita (UNHDI)
• development assistance to poor countries per capita (OECD)
• longevity (OECD)
• infant mortality (OECD)
• child abuse (Every Child Matters)
• depression (WHO, AMA)
• anxiety (WHO, AMA)
• obesity (OECD)
• murder rate (Nationmaster.com)
• incarceration rate (OECD)
• motor vehicle fatalities per capita (OECD)
• vacation time (CEPR)
• paid family leave (GWF)
• paid sick leave (GWF)
• the size of its middle-class by percent (UNHDI)
• voting rate (IDEA)
• press freedom (FreedomHouse.org)
• personal freedom (World Liberty Project)
SOURCES:
WHO - World Health Organization
OECD - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
UNHDI - United Nations Human Development Index
AMA - American Medical Association
CEPR - Center for Economic and Policy Research
GWF - Global Working Families Study
IDEA - International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
Start your own "Happiness Is ... " Swap like the people at Zazazu (click here for details):
The swap will go like this:
... Once the sign-up is closed, I will pair you all up and send each of you your partner’s information. I will give you ample time to get to know your swap partner as this will NOT be a secret swap. I do hope that you will correspond with your partner, visit their blog and get to know them. ... By July 26 (my birthday - yay!), compile and mail a package of things that bring you happiness, things that help you relax, things that bring a smile to your face. These don’t have to be expensive or elaborate but please compile a thoughtful package that you would like to receive if someone were to send it to you. ... On August 1, we will do a swap reveal where you will post a link to your blog where, hopefully, you will post pictures of the swap package that you received.