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Living standards have soared during the twentieth century, and 9 c, {; c* p0 O
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economists expect them to continue rising in the decades ahead. Does * U/ a' S5 @$ [/ Q9 O
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that mean that we humans can look forward to increasing happiness? $ }" N0 q' r8 n( k. K
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Not necessarily, warns Richard A. Easterlin, an economist at the ' w: f' K( k0 h# d$ U/ j4 _+ L" L
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University of Southern California, in his new book, Growth Triumphant:
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The Twenty-first Century in Historical Perspective. Easterlin concedes
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) x3 s. d8 h$ A/ g9 k& ]- N/ |that richer people are more likely to report themselves as being happy
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than poorer people are. But steady improvements in the American economy
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6 r0 [* q& S3 Fhave not been accompanied by steady increases in people‘s self-4 Q1 w6 O- t% F G% k/ A" ~) f# j
2 g H: W; F6 ?! o4 y+ c; xassessments of their own happiness. "There has been not improvement in , V; X9 S0 ]% D: N2 e( }. g
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average happiness in the United States over almost a half century----a
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& ~% u$ t2 h! zperiod in which real GDP per capita more than doubled," Easterlin
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reports.. I9 |8 y) s* G
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The explanation for this paradox may be that people become less
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satisfied over time with a given level of income. In Easterlin‘s word:
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"As incomes rise, the aspiration level does too, and the effect of this
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increase in aspirations is to vitiate the expected growth in happiness 4 X6 ^' k2 g- S1 L' i
' _8 o: |0 P! M/ Fdue to higher income." , C j- _0 x# H6 H: x
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Money can buy happiness, Easterlin seems to be saying, but only if
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one‘s amounts get bigger and other people aren‘t getting more. His 3 _' F; r" Z7 O. v
n2 ]* v5 K3 R- F! Q" Z* canalysis helps to explain sociologist Lee Rainwater‘s finding that
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Americans‘ perception of the income "necessary to get along" rose
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+ |8 W/ I* K" z* e ~between 1950 and 1986 in the same proportion as actual per capita
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5 E. ?0 `" j5 z I) |( |9 Vincome. We feel rich if we have more than our neighbors, poor if we
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/ t9 }7 }! _& s: O2 {! s- Xhave less, and feeling relatively well off is equated with being happy.
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/ V% e' R) T3 `. o3 W1 _ lEasterlin‘s findings, challenge psychologist Abraham Maslow‘s , b1 B6 {+ K" s! G8 j/ ]) S' U7 I1 o' r
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"hierarchy of wants" as a reliable guide to future human motivation.
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5 C. f0 K2 N: l5 @% M4 g9 d, Z! \Maslow suggested that as people‘s basic material wants are satisfied
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they seek to achieve nonmaterial or spiritual goals. But Easterlin‘s
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C8 `: |4 P3 M+ kevidence points to the persistence of materialism.
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"Despite a general level of affluence never before realized in the 7 r! l( C5 w% H" |) H: j1 G
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history of the world." Easterlin observes, "Material concerns in the
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wealthiest nations today are as pressing as ever and the pursuit of , a( K! }: l/ c$ M4 J8 L
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material need as intense." The evidence suggests there is no evolution + K' p: C$ J7 q. @# }
3 B' F2 w. ]' G4 }( n8 q8 p: Xtoward higher order goals. Rather, each step upward on the ladder of
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economic development merely stimulates new economic desires that lead
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the chase ever onward. Economists are accustomed to deflating the money 9 C' b$ G9 o7 O4 P4 K* O! ~8 c
0 ~' J6 y- H% N7 ~5 m3 h- W3 jvalue of national income by the average level of prices to obtain
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$ V9 L4 O2 R) D# Y+ Z"real" income. The process here is similar----real income is being
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deflated by rising material aspiration, in this case to yield % U. y, V# M3 l) u
+ C! k8 \ K: D+ H; l3 z& D! A* [% G: ]essentially constant subjective economic well-being. While it would be 6 W& d. V" U! @3 B0 J W
4 a$ }6 t8 b, F! u+ |pleasant to envisage a world free from the pressure of material want, a * S5 [4 g. \; E4 R) p% A
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more realistic projection, based on the evidence, is of a world in
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which generation after generation thinks it needs only another 10% to $ z- l N5 ?/ J
; d5 I0 N! ~6 [6 s8 h# N- H$ j# b20% more income to be perfectly happy.
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) G K" t" y# l1 E/ U# ]Needs are limited, but not greeds. Science has developed no cure for % Q9 J% W2 r0 Q! A8 ]
1 e8 y" ~* ~) i& ]6 Q- ]& }, Penvy, so our wealth boosts our happiness only briefly while shrinking m2 \& U; i/ U
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that of our neighbors. Thus the outlook for the future is gloomy in
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6 g. O0 ^" b, i9 w2 A& {, BEasterlin‘s view.0 ~2 f/ A7 O& J) {! d5 S
U. J' U2 `) a/ @2 O1 a5 ]* D"The future, then, to which the epoch of modern economic growth is
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, X! E3 f' K8 z3 Sleading is one of never ending economic growth, a world in which ever
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7 |# g3 {% s1 H) q' Dgrowing abundance is matched by ever rising aspirations, a world in
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1 J% d! W. b; Q8 S( I7 pwhich cultural difference is leveled in the constant race to achieve & b8 M8 x) c4 G- t3 @. F/ L
) O; s/ N9 Y0 q, Ythe goods life of material plenty, it is a world founded on belief in ( m# R; j9 d( p p2 K$ N
4 @* m) W- d: O7 O7 e! t% W% w5 dscience and the power of rational inquiry and in the ultimate capacity 6 k( a' \! K( n8 B" Y! a
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of humanity to shape its own destiny. The irony is that in this last
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respect the lesson of history appears to be otherwise: that there is no
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6 [) n' b$ l; L; l5 j+ F7 V2 dchoice. In the end, the triumph of economic growth is not a triumph of 4 [ ?+ W% e' n% ~- O F
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humanity over material wants; rather, it is the triumph of material . T6 I/ G8 |; N& [' c
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wants over humanity." |
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