散文 Happiness and Wealth

小鱼小鱼慢慢游

Living standards have soared during the twentieth century, and
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; F4 U2 E1 N1 @, S) Teconomists expect them to continue rising in the decades ahead. Does

- b( U! K( k0 ^+ Z( |$ Othat mean that we humans can look forward to increasing happiness?
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+ |# n* U* q9 s' tNot necessarily, warns Richard A. Easterlin, an economist at the
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& R& Z( z. l  d6 g  U- F' XUniversity of Southern California, in his new book, Growth Triumphant:
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3 A1 i# Y  S1 h0 j0 O0 E/ S. H+ QThe Twenty-first Century in Historical Perspective. Easterlin concedes

that richer people are more likely to report themselves as being happy

2 q+ R& ]7 x5 f6 o: Wthan poorer people are. But steady improvements in the American economy
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have not been accompanied by steady increases in people‘s self-
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/ S' a" l6 N3 ]! e1 ^assessments of their own happiness. "There has been not improvement in

average happiness in the United States over almost a half century----a
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period in which real GDP per capita more than doubled," Easterlin
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reports.

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

" |. U# v6 C. L: v# tincrease in aspirations is to vitiate the expected growth in happiness

due to higher income."
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Money can buy happiness, Easterlin seems to be saying, but only if

one‘s amounts get bigger and other people aren‘t getting more. His
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2 r% N7 W6 x! w& I# Q) [1 Nanalysis helps to explain sociologist Lee Rainwater‘s finding that
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Americans‘ perception of the income "necessary to get along" rose

/ @( p$ Y1 }& G4 r: bbetween 1950 and 1986 in the same proportion as actual per capita
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, y0 J) r- e2 `$ I$ Jincome. We feel rich if we have more than our neighbors, poor if we
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% U4 a4 i6 @* I. h( Khave less, and feeling relatively well off is equated with being happy.

Easterlin‘s findings, challenge psychologist Abraham Maslow‘s
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"hierarchy of wants" as a reliable guide to future human motivation.

Maslow suggested that as people‘s basic material wants are satisfied
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: T$ k2 g: ?: Q" E5 n0 D- T9 Fthey seek to achieve nonmaterial or spiritual goals. But Easterlin‘s
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7 w6 v& r* q/ u' }  x  X7 hevidence points to the persistence of materialism.
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"Despite a general level of affluence never before realized in the
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history of the world." Easterlin observes, "Material concerns in the

wealthiest nations today are as pressing as ever and the pursuit of

8 U( e% A1 b8 nmaterial need as intense." The evidence suggests there is no evolution
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toward higher order goals. Rather, each step upward on the ladder of

, t) l% N! D0 t0 Q* @' s4 i$ `' Ieconomic development merely stimulates new economic desires that lead
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the chase ever onward. Economists are accustomed to deflating the money
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+ E5 c2 X' ~3 D: p" V4 evalue of national income by the average level of prices to obtain
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"real" income. The process here is similar----real income is being

, t/ y0 b+ R* \6 L# I# ?( F9 Ydeflated by rising material aspiration, in this case to yield

essentially constant subjective economic well-being. While it would be
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. B* {. \; z5 _4 Rpleasant to envisage a world free from the pressure of material want, a

, l' s1 U2 t, y! h" _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

% a: s, l+ h2 X/ O" m0 }2 l20% more income to be perfectly happy.

Needs are limited, but not greeds. Science has developed no cure for
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4 P, b* W" m6 U: a8 ^5 l4 S1 Aenvy, so our wealth boosts our happiness only briefly while shrinking
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' X5 A! D# X( f# Tthat of our neighbors. Thus the outlook for the future is gloomy in
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' y) G( c$ y$ @, QEasterlin‘s view.
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"The future, then, to which the epoch of modern economic growth is
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leading is one of never ending economic growth, a world in which ever
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growing abundance is matched by ever rising aspirations, a world in

which cultural difference is leveled in the constant race to achieve
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the goods life of material plenty, it is a world founded on belief in
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+ j( q4 O- j) w5 s5 w! fscience and the power of rational inquiry and in the ultimate capacity
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of humanity to shape its own destiny. The irony is that in this last
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: B8 }2 u6 x! t7 Arespect the lesson of history appears to be otherwise: that there is no
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, l+ T3 ^  w; |  lchoice. In the end, the triumph of economic growth is not a triumph of
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humanity over material wants; rather, it is the triumph of material

$ B* W! `/ X' V- j$ I& Pwants over humanity."

小鱼小鱼慢慢游

人们的生活水平在20世纪飞速提高，经济学家预计在未来的几十年里，人们
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( B3 m. R" h  s' q4 y的生活水平还会进一步提高。这是否意味着我们人类的日子有望越过越幸福呢？
　　未必如此，南加州大学一位经济学家理查德?A?伊斯特林在其新书《增长的胜
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利：从历史的视角展望21世纪》中如是告诫世人。他承认，一般来说，富人比穷
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人更有可能称自己是幸福的。然而，美国人对幸福感的自我评价并未伴随着美国
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经济稳步发展而有所提高。伊斯特林指出：“过去近半个世纪中，美国的实际人

5 j9 O3 k6 S- {- G' I均国内生产总值增加了2倍多，而人们并未感到比以往更幸福。”
8 D! J: O4 @6 `- y1 H4 F. E* [　　对于这种自相矛盾的现象也许可作如下解释，随着时间的推移，人们对一定
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3 W$ ~# d& k+ K0 r& P的收入会越来越不满。用伊斯特林的话来说：“收入增加了，人们的期望值也相
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应提高了，期望值的提高会抵消收入提高所带来的预期有所增加的幸福感。”
4 V# l- `0 J4 T7 h4 j7 D, U3 |  c　　伊斯特林似乎在说，金钱可以买来幸福，但这只有在自己金钱不断增多，而

别人收入不变的情况才会如此。他的分析有助于人们理解社会学家李?雷恩沃特的

) w6 r2 j# y4 _调查结果----从1950年到1986年，在美国持收入“必须维持基本生活”观念的人

随着实际人均收入的增加而同比增长。如果收入比邻居多，我们就会感到自己富

有；反之，则觉得自己贫穷。由此可见，人们把幸福感与相对富裕程度等同起来
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。
; B* ^4 T& j1 W( z0 I& s. i　　伊斯特林的调查结果向心理理学家亚伯拉罕?马斯洛的“需要等级体系”理论

4 J6 g) d! K7 K% n提出了挑战，该理论为人类未来的动机提供了可靠指南。马斯洛认为：一旦人们
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的基本物质需求得到满足后，就会转而追求更高层次的精神需求。但伊斯特林的

论证却指出人类的物欲永无止境。
　　伊斯特林还评述到：“尽管人类历史上从未实现过普遍水平的富裕，但今日

最富有的那些国家对物质的关注还是那么迫切，对物质需要的追求还是那样的强
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. p9 E5 y: }5 Z5 r烈。”这表明人类并未朝更高层次的精神目标进展。更确切地说，经济发展每上

一个台阶只会刺激新的经济需求，进而促进经济持续向前发展。经济学家通常用

国民收入的货币价值减去平均物价上涨额度来计算“实际”收入。同样，人们日

4 ]. V% n5 K3 @' V, b) g益增长的物质欲望，在此主要是持续不断对经济富裕的主观要求，削减了实际收

入。虽然设想一个没有物欲压力的世界是件惬意的事，但一个基于事实的更为现

1 [+ q/ ~  U6 k% b4 U实的想法是设想在这样一个世界里，世世代代的人们都认为只要将收入再提高
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2 k% x9 }& W. H' C' T4 T10%----20%，就可达到无比幸福的境界。
　　需求是有极限的，而贪欲却无止境。科学再进步也尚未研制出治疗嫉妒的良

药，因此只有当我们的财富让邻居相形见绌的时候，我们才会感到片刻的幸福。

所以在伊斯特林看来，未来的前景不容乐观：
" M" ?7 W1 P- _! F9 X- u; \8 ?- k　　“当今经济发展的趋势告诉我们，未来经济会不断发展、永不停歇，未来世

界会是一个财富不断增长而欲望节节上升的世界；一个为达到富裕不断角逐而导
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$ ?* V2 _+ C& j( N- C4 I致文化差异尽失的世界；一个建立在信仰科学和智力并相信人类有最大的能力塑

6 N0 M  U# v' F5 Z造自己命运的世界。具有讽刺意味的是，在最后一点上，历史的经验教训似乎告

诉我们事物的发展并非如此：人类别无选择，并不能掌握自己的命运。最后，经
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济发展的结果不是人性战胜物欲，而是物欲战胜人性。”

随风

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