Jeffrey D. Sachs, “Addiction and Unhappiness in America.” Chapter 7 in World Happiness Report 2019.
• In the US, the Easterlin paradox continues to appear: "the average life evaluation in the United States, as measured by the Cantril ladder, has declined during the past dozen years, from 7.2 in 2006 to 6.9 in 2018, despite ongoing U.S. economic growth [p. 124]."
• Sachs hypothesizes that the US is in the midst of an addiction epidemic – with rising unhappiness and depression as consequences.
• The addiction epidemic includes alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, of course, but also the internet, food, sex, exercise, work...
• Co-morbidities are common
• Causes of the increase in addictions are hard to identify precisely, but there are many candidates: current life conditions, inequality, marketing (and designing more addictive goods, such as slot machines and cigarettes), failure to sufficiently regulate industries such as opioids and sweetened foods and social media...
• "The U.S. has had, by now, two startling wake-up calls: back to back years of falling life expectancy and declining measured subjective well-being [p. 130]." Better public policy is desperately needed, and directions to go are outlined in the Global Happiness and Well-Being Policy Report, 2019.
• In the US, the Easterlin paradox continues to appear: "the average life evaluation in the United States, as measured by the Cantril ladder, has declined during the past dozen years, from 7.2 in 2006 to 6.9 in 2018, despite ongoing U.S. economic growth [p. 124]."
• Sachs hypothesizes that the US is in the midst of an addiction epidemic – with rising unhappiness and depression as consequences.
• The addiction epidemic includes alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, of course, but also the internet, food, sex, exercise, work...
• Co-morbidities are common
• Causes of the increase in addictions are hard to identify precisely, but there are many candidates: current life conditions, inequality, marketing (and designing more addictive goods, such as slot machines and cigarettes), failure to sufficiently regulate industries such as opioids and sweetened foods and social media...
• "The U.S. has had, by now, two startling wake-up calls: back to back years of falling life expectancy and declining measured subjective well-being [p. 130]." Better public policy is desperately needed, and directions to go are outlined in the Global Happiness and Well-Being Policy Report, 2019.
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