HAPPY STATISTICS: the money and not about the money

Statistical analysis of the attitudes of Americans can make a ( cautious ) assumptions about what really makes people happy.

... However, the question of how it is implemented by a desire to remain vague, and today, hundreds of years after they were written. How and what makes us happy? .

Rough representation suggests that happiness is directly related to the economic well-being of society - in the end, with macroeconomic indicators, such as the notorious Gross Domestic Product. However, recent studies have fundamentally undermine these views. A number of studies showed that it was in the middle of prosperity, and even in poor countries simply, people often feel happy. Residents of Brazil, Costa Rica and Panama, the Americans are happier. Economists are baffled. What then determines happiness?.

Know it is extremely difficult: the required data is too extensive, numerous and difficult to analyze. However, if it is facilitated by the existence of the United States on a regular basis with the ongoing 1972. sentiment survey residents of the country's General Social Survey. This information gives sociologists, demographers, and psychologists excellent base to work on the topic of happiness. In particular, one of the questions asks: ... people and material for reflection has accumulated sufficient.

Analyzed it, and independent researchers Guo Teng (Teng Guo) and Ling Hu (Lingyi Hu), who with the help of statistical analysis have tried to find factors that can really make the American people happy. To the authors operating in two stages. At first, they studied the relationship of subjective happiness with the personal circumstances of the individual - age, health status, presence of family and children, income, etc. n. In the second step, correlations were sought between happiness and the macroeconomic indicators of the national economy - GDP, inflation rate and r. Dr.. And they came to a rather interesting conclusions.

From the ... In second place - the family: married for 10% happier than those who never start a family. Against this background, income plays a rather minor role, although it is important: people with very high earnings, on average call themselves happy by 3.5 % more.

All these observations may explain the rather unexpected discovery scientists made ​​during this study: that having children makes people less happy. True, too: no more than 0.24% for each child. Apparently, it was inevitable reduction in income and health problems - but not children! .

But to show the connection with the macroeconomics of happiness was not so easily. For example, no clear relationship a sense of happiness in U.S. citizens to the country's GDP or the authors found no change. Moreover, they believed proved that these parameters are entirely independent. But inflation is, in fact, reduces the level of happiness: every 1% the number of happy about inflation at 3.1 %. All this, again, may be associated with basic personal reasons - namely, the level of personal income.

However, the findings of scientists are not so clear. It would seem that politicians can adopt the principle: to make people happy, we must take care of their health and income. But that is what it depends on? .