Editing Happiness (section)

=== Government ===
[[File:US Navy 110527-N-OA833-014 Newly commissioned Navy and Marine Corps officers toss their hats during the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 2011 graduation.jpg|thumb|Newly commissioned officers celebrate their new positions by throwing their midshipmen covers into the air as part of the U.S. Naval Academy class of 2011 graduation and commissioning ceremony.]]
{{Main|Happiness economics}}

[[Jeremy Bentham]] believed that public policy should attempt to maximize happiness, and he even attempted to estimate a "hedonic calculus". [[Thomas Jefferson]] put the "pursuit of happiness" on the same level as life and liberty in the [[United States Declaration of Independence]]. Presently, many countries and organizations regularly [[#Measurement|measure]] population happiness through large-scale surveys, e.g., [[Gross National Happiness|Bhutan]].

Richer nations tend to have higher [[#Measurement|measures]] of happiness than poorer nations.<ref name="Frey2001">{{cite book | first = Bruno S. | last = Frey |author2=Alois Stutzer | title = Happiness and Economics | publisher = Princeton University Press |date=2001 | isbn = 978-0691069982}}{{page needed|date=April 2022}}</ref><ref name="Cato2007">{{cite web | url = http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8179 | title = In Pursuit of Happiness Research. Is It Reliable? What Does It Imply for Policy? | publisher = The [[Cato Institute]] | date = 11 April 2007 | access-date = 2 August 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110219211701/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8179 | archive-date = 19 February 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref> The relationship between wealth and happiness is not linear and the same GDP increase in poor countries will have more effect on happiness than in wealthy countries.<ref name="wealth_and_happiness_revisited">{{cite web |url=http://www2.eur.nl/fsw/research/veenhoven/Pub2000s/2003e-full.pdf |title=Wealth and happiness revisited Growing wealth of nations does go with greater happiness |access-date=26 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016231853/http://www2.eur.nl/fsw/research/veenhoven/Pub2000s/2003e-full.pdf |archive-date=16 October 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/business/16leonhardt.html | work=The New York Times | title=Maybe Money Does Buy Happiness After All | first=David | last=Leonhardt | date=16 April 2008 | access-date=10 April 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424154306/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/business/16leonhardt.html | archive-date=24 April 2009 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bpp.wharton.upenn.edu/betseys/papers/Happiness.pdf |title=Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox |website=bpp.wharton.upenn.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617020438/http://bpp.wharton.upenn.edu/betseys/papers/happiness.pdf |archive-date=17 June 2012 }}</ref><ref name="globe">{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/11/23/a_talk_with_betsey_stevenson_and_justin_wolfers/?page=full |title=Boston.com |publisher=Boston.com |date=23 November 2008 |access-date=26 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513234516/http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/11/23/a_talk_with_betsey_stevenson_and_justin_wolfers/?page=full |archive-date=13 May 2013 |url-status=live |last1=Akst |first1=Daniel }}</ref>

Some political scientists argue that life satisfaction is positively related to the social democratic model of a generous [[social safety net]], pro-worker labor market regulations, and strong labor unions.<ref>[[Benjamin Radcliff|Radcliff, Benjamin]] (2013) ''The Political Economy of Human Happiness'' (New York: Cambridge University Press).{{page needed|date=August 2016}}</ref><ref>See also '''this collection of full-text peer reviewed scholarly articles on this subject''' by Radcliff and colleagues (from "Social Forces," "The Journal of Politics," and "Perspectives on Politics," among others) [http://benjaminradcliff.com/scholarly-articles/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712200741/http://benjaminradcliff.com/scholarly-articles/|date=12 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/05/14/does-a-higher-minimum-wage-make-people-happier/|title=Does a higher minimum wage make people happier? |author=Michael Krassa|date=14 May 2014|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707112256/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/05/14/does-a-higher-minimum-wage-make-people-happier/|archive-date=7 July 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Others argue that happiness is strongly correlated with [[economic freedom]],<ref name="cato.org">[http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8179 In Pursuit of Happiness Research. Is It Reliable? What Does It Imply for Policy?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219211701/http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8179 |date=19 February 2011 }} The Cato Institute. 11 April 2007</ref> preferably within the context of a western mixed economy, with free press and a democracy.