… and the Pursuit of Happiness - Institute of Economic Affairs

… and the pursuit of happiness
lessons the from unbearable austrian lightness and public of choice happiness economics policy
goes on to note that ‘The argument that the pursuit of money,
which after all is a general claim on a wide range of things, is futile
because more money doesn’t permanently increase happiness
can be generalised to almost all, if not all, pursuits’ (Lee, 2005:
394). Instead of attempting to centrally plan and micro-manage
happiness, the focus must be on ensuring the existence of institutions
associated with social and economic autonomy. Only when
these conditions of autonomy are in place will individuals be able
to discover and pursue whatever their notion of happiness may
entail.
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