04-03-2012, 02:37 PM
(04-03-2012, 02:13 PM)Jester Wrote: I tend to tune out Jeff Sachs. His arguments are seldom very convincing to me.Fair enough. Anyway he is a pretty well respected scientist. Wasn't he mentioned (rumours?) as candidate for becoming president of the world bank?
(04-03-2012, 02:13 PM)Jester Wrote: All of the Scandinavian and Benelux countries are really, really rich. Whatever arguments one wants to advance for the causes of happiness, wealth buys almost all of the ones that matter. This is not just true for consumer crap, but also for health, food, shelter, security, and the amelioration of social ills like poverty, crime, and inequality. All of the things we like best, even in the most equal societies, are the product of historically unprecedented levels of income. It's certainly not the whole picture, but it's most of it.
-Jester
Well, yes but the UK, Australia, the US, Saudi Arabia, Singapore etc. are just as or even richer.
Of course you need a certain level of wealth, mainly because when they ask you if you are happy you will always try to compare your situation to that of others.
(which is of course one of the reasons why in countries with large gaps between the rich and the poor people will be on average less happy).