GCPH Seminar Series 5: - Prof Avner Offer - 'Should Government try to make us happy?'

The determinants of 'happiness' and its distribution both domestically and internationally suggest that a more appropriate target for policy is 'unhappiness', which responds to several forms of public action. But setting happiness as an objective does suggest some policy priorities. These include non-material forms of recognition, taxation of positional goods and support of culture and the arts. Individuals have an intrinsic short-term myopic bias, which is exacerbated by the flow of novelty in affluent societies. They find it difficult to commit. Government has a role in supporting personal and social commitment for the long term, e.g. in co-ordinating responses to challenges such as climate change and energy depletion.