Happy yet?

Andrew Oswald, professor of economics at Warwick University, may have an idea why (or why not). Oswald's research interests are in quantitative social science, applied economics and, as it turns out, happiness. In a recent article in Financial Times, titled "The Hippies Were Right All Along About Happiness," Oswald documents how industrialized nations, especially those with higher than average economic growth indicators, tend to have poorer mental health, higher rates of depression and suicide, and (somewhat obviously) increased levels of stress.

In short, studies and surveys have shown many in the US and the UK are more successful and less happy than our predecessors. At the root of the problem, Oswald posits, may be the fact that we're also less able to determine and choose those things which will make us happy.

The Symposium on Economics of Happiness in LA this March promises to shed some light on the topic.