Nice, super interesting. Some very scattered thoughts:
Scale shift seems significant to me.
It would be really surprising if increased health, material comfort, increased leisure not all lead to increased well-being, right?
A theme in some 20th century history podcasts I listened to: It’s pretty astonishing how a new generation fully blanks out the horrors that happened only a few decades ago. Kinda points to your pet theory and people having a different reference class for the “least happy a person could realistically be”
Also anecdotally, a few people I know from LMIC grew up watching a lot of US movies and shows (there’s probably some selection bias here as those people ended up living in Western countries), which plausibly affects what type of life seems normal or adequate to them?
People don’t only value well-being (or they underrate it?) and use their wealth for other things
As you said relative wealth seems a big factor.
I somewhat buy the story that (given basic needs like sufficient diet and safety are met) relative wealth evolutionarily determined a lot about e.g. who you were able to mate with. Robin Hanson’s main thesis in The Elephant in the Brain also points in this direction: a lot of our motivation is driven by signalling to others that we’re better companions than others.
Financial safety seems another desire that probably can swallow up a ton of money.
People also do not seem super skilled at using their wealth to increase their well-being (yet, growth mindset!)
I somewhat buy the Buddhist story that human psychology is to a large part driven by somewhat futile attempts at trying to avoid unpleasantness. E.g. I kinda sympathize with classic criticisms of consumerism that it doesn’t bring lasting joy, that it’s kinda a nice but short-lasting rush to get shiny new things, etc.
Relatedly, I have the vague impression that it’s somewhat recent that wellbeing is given a much more central position among educated & wealthier people? For example I imagine this group of people to spend more time in meditation retreats today compared to 30 years ago?
Do you, or anybody, happen to know whether there are longitudinal surveys that ask “What do you most value in life?”. Maybe then one could see what people use their wealth for?
It’s kinda obvious, but I wanted to point out anyway that many of your suggestions for increasing well-being also seems to require significant levels of wealth to pull off:
In some sense, this is the story we all seem to accept: that we do need resources, but only up to a point, and after that point we’re just showing off. Hence, we should focus on how society is organised, as opposed to how wealthy it is.
More concretely, in his 2021 book, An Economist’s Lessons on Happiness, Easterlin suggests that job security, a comprehensive welfare state, getting citizens to be healthy, and encouraging long-term relationships would increase average wellbeing. All of those seem fairly plausible to me. [...]
We should also take mental health and palliative care more seriously […] We could also consider improved air quality, reduced noise, more green and blue space (blue spaces being water), and getting people to commute smaller distances
Nice, super interesting. Some very scattered thoughts:
Scale shift seems significant to me.
It would be really surprising if increased health, material comfort, increased leisure not all lead to increased well-being, right?
A theme in some 20th century history podcasts I listened to: It’s pretty astonishing how a new generation fully blanks out the horrors that happened only a few decades ago. Kinda points to your pet theory and people having a different reference class for the “least happy a person could realistically be”
Also anecdotally, a few people I know from LMIC grew up watching a lot of US movies and shows (there’s probably some selection bias here as those people ended up living in Western countries), which plausibly affects what type of life seems normal or adequate to them?
People don’t only value well-being (or they underrate it?) and use their wealth for other things
As you said relative wealth seems a big factor.
I somewhat buy the story that (given basic needs like sufficient diet and safety are met) relative wealth evolutionarily determined a lot about e.g. who you were able to mate with. Robin Hanson’s main thesis in The Elephant in the Brain also points in this direction: a lot of our motivation is driven by signalling to others that we’re better companions than others.
Financial safety seems another desire that probably can swallow up a ton of money.
People also do not seem super skilled at using their wealth to increase their well-being (yet, growth mindset!)
I somewhat buy the Buddhist story that human psychology is to a large part driven by somewhat futile attempts at trying to avoid unpleasantness. E.g. I kinda sympathize with classic criticisms of consumerism that it doesn’t bring lasting joy, that it’s kinda a nice but short-lasting rush to get shiny new things, etc.
Relatedly, I have the vague impression that it’s somewhat recent that wellbeing is given a much more central position among educated & wealthier people? For example I imagine this group of people to spend more time in meditation retreats today compared to 30 years ago?
Do you, or anybody, happen to know whether there are longitudinal surveys that ask “What do you most value in life?”. Maybe then one could see what people use their wealth for?
It’s kinda obvious, but I wanted to point out anyway that many of your suggestions for increasing well-being also seems to require significant levels of wealth to pull off: