David G. Blanchflower and Andrew Oswald, “Unhappiness and Pain in
Modern America: A Review Essay, and Further Evidence, on Carol
Graham’s Happiness for All?” NBER Working Paper No. 24087, November
2017.
• The authors summarize and respond to a 2017 book by Carol Graham, Happiness for All?
• Graham’s work centers on subjective well-being (SWB) measures, especially the Cantril ladder question, which, according to the World Happiness Report, "asks respondents to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale."
• Some of Graham’s claims about happiness in the US: (1) SWB is getting more unequal, and income inequality lowers SWB; (2) people are increasingly unhopeful, especially white Americans and poorer Americans; and, (3) Americans, particularly poorer ones, suffer from high levels of pain and stress.
• The age-adjusted suicide rate for black American men is one-third the rate for white American men.
• Blanchflower and Oswald point out that almost surely, SWB is not nearly as unequally distributed as is income.
• It does appear that Americans are becoming less happy, and that reported pain is very high (34% in past 4 weeks) in the US; the international average is 20%.
• Middle-age Americans are particularly troubled. SWB tends to fall almost monotonically from the late teens until somewhere around age 40-50, and then tends to increase (slowly) for some 40 years.
• Education is associated with higher SWB.
• There has been significant convergence in SWB among racial groups in the US in the past 45 years.
• Though there is some evidence that women in the US have become less happy in the last 30 years relative to men, reported SWB is quite similar across genders.
• The authors summarize and respond to a 2017 book by Carol Graham, Happiness for All?
• Graham’s work centers on subjective well-being (SWB) measures, especially the Cantril ladder question, which, according to the World Happiness Report, "asks respondents to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale."
• Some of Graham’s claims about happiness in the US: (1) SWB is getting more unequal, and income inequality lowers SWB; (2) people are increasingly unhopeful, especially white Americans and poorer Americans; and, (3) Americans, particularly poorer ones, suffer from high levels of pain and stress.
• The age-adjusted suicide rate for black American men is one-third the rate for white American men.
• Blanchflower and Oswald point out that almost surely, SWB is not nearly as unequally distributed as is income.
• It does appear that Americans are becoming less happy, and that reported pain is very high (34% in past 4 weeks) in the US; the international average is 20%.
• Middle-age Americans are particularly troubled. SWB tends to fall almost monotonically from the late teens until somewhere around age 40-50, and then tends to increase (slowly) for some 40 years.
• Education is associated with higher SWB.
• There has been significant convergence in SWB among racial groups in the US in the past 45 years.
• Though there is some evidence that women in the US have become less happy in the last 30 years relative to men, reported SWB is quite similar across genders.
