I agree this is a commonsensical view, but it also seems to me that intuitions here are rather fragile and depend a lot on the framing. I can actually get myself to finding the opposite intuitive, i.e. that we have more reason to make happy people than to make people happy. Think about it this way: you can use a bunch of resources to make an already happy person still happier, or you can use these resources to allow the existence of a happy person who would otherwise not be able to exist at all. (Say, you could double the happiness of the existing person or create an additional person with the same level of happiness.) Imagine you create this person, she has a happy life and is grateful for it. Was your decision to create this person wrong? Would it have been any better not to create her but to make the original person happier yet? Intuitively, I’d say, the answer is ‘no’. Creating her was the right decision.
I agree this is a commonsensical view, but it also seems to me that intuitions here are rather fragile and depend a lot on the framing. I can actually get myself to finding the opposite intuitive, i.e. that we have more reason to make happy people than to make people happy. Think about it this way: you can use a bunch of resources to make an already happy person still happier, or you can use these resources to allow the existence of a happy person who would otherwise not be able to exist at all. (Say, you could double the happiness of the existing person or create an additional person with the same level of happiness.) Imagine you create this person, she has a happy life and is grateful for it. Was your decision to create this person wrong? Would it have been any better not to create her but to make the original person happier yet? Intuitively, I’d say, the answer is ‘no’. Creating her was the right decision.