“When you talk to a parent and you ask, you know, did having a kid makes you happy? Sometimes they'll say 'no'. Then you say, would you do it again? and they always say, 'yes'. And you say, why? People usually start to talk about other things that matter to them besides their own affective state. So it may be that they become a parent because they somehow find meaning in being a parent.
If that's the case then, we need to expand our understanding: What's good beyond just happiness. And once you start thinking through this path, you can actually start to think of a whole bunch of other factors that are important to people as well: living a fulfilled spiritual life is important to some, for instance; being good to others is important to some. And so these broader objectives suggest that what society really wants - what we as individuals actually try and maximize, and what society perhaps should be trying to optimise is going to be broader than just happiness.”
Economist Justin Wolfers on NPR Planet Money: Money Buys Happiness
If that's the case then, we need to expand our understanding: What's good beyond just happiness. And once you start thinking through this path, you can actually start to think of a whole bunch of other factors that are important to people as well: living a fulfilled spiritual life is important to some, for instance; being good to others is important to some. And so these broader objectives suggest that what society really wants - what we as individuals actually try and maximize, and what society perhaps should be trying to optimise is going to be broader than just happiness.”
Economist Justin Wolfers on NPR Planet Money: Money Buys Happiness
