A Thought or 2 About Wealth

tomterm8

I wonder if Generali just posted an argument for communism. We might all be poor under that ***** lenin. but at least no one would be richer than anyone else.

Generali wrote: »

They are starting to debunk the idea of the 'rational consumer' for example (which I always thought was a crock of poo TBH although my economics professor used to argue all day that consumers are rational it's clear they're not - just ask any gambler

I don't understand how anyone whose ever studied history could think people are rational. Almost all of history involves people believing things that are entirely bonkers.

Generali

tomterm8 wrote: »

I wonder if Generali just posted an argument for communism. We might all be poor under that ***** lenin. but at least no one would be richer than anyone else.

Possibly although I tend to view the outcome of communism (and more generally socialism) is that the overall level of misery is increased and spread around.

To paraphrase Mr Churchill, there must be a better system out there than free markets and capitalism but I think we're yet to find it.

ninky_2

Generali wrote: »

Interesting bloke carolt linked to, I'll have to look at him.

One thing that has come out of a lot of research, slightly depressingly TBH, is that increases in the overall levels of peoples' incomes don't make people happier once you get past the point of people being able to sustain life with relative ease. What does make people happier is being richer than those around them.

Most people would be happier to earn £10,000 and have the bloke next door on £5,000 than earn £100,000 and have the bloke next door on £150,000.

Nice eh!

think you meant me generali not carolt? his research is interesting and finds that those with shorter working hours are happier, tend to do less damage to the environment with their behaviours etc even though they earn less.

paper of his here http://www.springerlink.com/content/q2358246314w151q/

i'm not sure if relative wealth (to one's neighbour) ACTUALLY makes people happier - i think the studies show more that people assume it will. could be wrong though. some people will always make themselves miserable looking at those who have more i fear.

i wonder at the sentiments sometimes expressed of anger that people want things now and the moralistic tone that we should all slave away to be able to have a decent living. surely everyone would want a good work / life balance and want this for others too? i working week certainly seems to have increased on average in recent years - particularly in london. add longer commuting times, bigger mortgages and it's all a recipe for less happiness as far as i can see.

Generali

ninky wrote: »

think you meant me generali not carolt? his research is interesting and finds that those with shorter working hours are happier, tend to do less damage to the environment with their behaviours etc even though they earn less.

paper of his here http://www.springerlink.com/content/q2358246314w151q/

i'm not sure if relative wealth (to one's neighbour) ACTUALLY makes people happier - i think the studies show more that people assume it will. could be wrong though. some people will always make themselves miserable looking at those who have more i fear.

i wonder at the sentiments sometimes expressed of anger that people want things now and the moralistic tone that we should all slave away to be able to have a decent living. surely everyone would want a good work / life balance and want this for others too? i working week certainly seems to have increased on average in recent years - particularly in london. add longer commuting times, bigger mortgages and it's all a recipe for less happiness as far as i can see.

Well I read the opening paragraph which is free and he's going down a pretty dangerous road IMO.

He states that people who strive for personal wealth are, on average, unhappier than those that do not. He then seems to be implying that it is unethical to allow these people to do that and so, presumably, they should be prevented from doing so.

It's impossible to say for sure without reading the whole thing but it does sound at the begining like one of those socialist texts that starts with everyone being nice to each other and ends in the Gulag.