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Huffington Post - The Blog:
So it turns out Londoners aren't all that happy - what can we do about it?

24 September 2014

The ONS' data showed that whilst, on average, Londoners have the highest disposable incomes in the country they are also the most anxious and have the lowest levels of life satisfaction. None of this will come as any surprise to anyone who has read their Spirit Level or the works of economists like Richard Layard or philosophers such as Peter Singer who have argued that money can't buy us happiness. In fact, there appears to exist a ''happiness paradox'': once personal income rises above subsistence level, happiness does not increase. Instead, it is more likely to decrease because a focus on money-making creates harsher social comparisons and ultimately encourages greed and materialism. Far from bringing contentment, such behaviours distract us from those aspects of our lives (friends, family, and communities) that hold their own intrinsic and life-satisfying values. Instead we seek to compare our fortunes with those of our neighbours - keeping up appearances with Hyacinth Bucket next door.

This article was published online by The Huffington Post - The Blog on September 24, 2014
Link to article here

Related publications
Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, Richard Layard. Penguin 2nd Edition, 2011
Details here

Related links
Richard Layard webpage
Wellbeing Programme webpage
Happiness and Public Policy Research webpage

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