Several Think Tanks, including the CATO Institute, have over the past few years began to explore "Happiness," what exactly it is, what makes people happy, what it does for our health and how it affects the world economy.
The Economist Magazine has come out with a more recent snapshot of Happiness in the world and, most specifically, how it reflects the world economy. Their realization is that despite the current economic doom and gloom, people are generally much happier individuals in the poorest nations of the world and happiness takes a fall onward.
The Economist gives a few explanations on how to read their findings, such as what makes people happy in one part of the world does not necessarily ring true elsewhere (being a self-reported survey method of research) and that those who live in "developing nations" do not generally share the same level of pessimism those of us rich folks have when the DOW plunges 2 points.
The article does not go into much more detail than to report the findings and allow you to think things over for yourself. My initial reaction was that no matter how a person decides to look at happiness and what it means to them, happiness is happiness and that's a good thing. If someone is in a good mood over a period of time they are generally more likely to spend, participate more in the economy and local communities and encourage others to do the same.
Look around your community, what would you find are indicators of happiness, in fact what makes you happy? I would love to know, leave your comments below and I'll compile them and tell you all at a later date how your responses rack up to those elites with the PhDs and their findings.
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