Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Cognition and emotion
- Part III Self-attribution and self-esteem
- Part IV Human relations
- Part V Work
- Part VI Rewards
- Part VII Utility and happiness
- 22 Understanding happiness
- 23 Markets and the satisfaction of human wants
- 24 Pleasure and pain in a market society
- 25 Markets and the structures of happiness
- 26 Buying happiness
- 27 Misinterpreting happiness and satisfaction in a market society
- 28 Summing utilities and happiness
- Part VIII Conclusion
- Author index
- Subject index
22 - Understanding happiness
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Cognition and emotion
- Part III Self-attribution and self-esteem
- Part IV Human relations
- Part V Work
- Part VI Rewards
- Part VII Utility and happiness
- 22 Understanding happiness
- 23 Markets and the satisfaction of human wants
- 24 Pleasure and pain in a market society
- 25 Markets and the structures of happiness
- 26 Buying happiness
- 27 Misinterpreting happiness and satisfaction in a market society
- 28 Summing utilities and happiness
- Part VIII Conclusion
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
In this penultimate Part VII we explore the concepts of utility, satisfaction, and happiness. Our target is the relation of these moods and thoughts to market institutions and practices. Koopmans reports that economists study “the satisfaction of human wants in human society,” and “the best ways of satisfying human wants.” Mises claims that there are no boundaries to economics, for “economic action consists in the endeavor to remedy the state of dissatisfaction” wherever it is to be found. Pigou states: “In the deepest sense, economic reality comprises states of mind – the satisfactions and dissatisfactions of human beings – and nothing else.” To this may be added the catechism of an economics text: “What is the economic system supposed to do? The answer that it should contribute to human happiness is as good a start as any.”
Certainly the market makes a contribution to the satisfaction of human wants, but as pointed out in the introduction to this part, there are reasons to doubt the effectiveness of the market in maximizing happiness. In order to clarify both the contributions and the failures of the market in these respects, we must first examine the nature of happiness and utility, explore their relationships to each other and to the market, and only then can we assess the claims of the economists.
I start this chapter with an exploration of the conditions necessary for the development of a theory of happiness as a contribution to understanding the strange association between economics and what we may call hedonics. The second major theme in this discussion deals with skepticism about both the possibility of happiness and the possibility of our knowing anything about it.
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- Information
- The Market Experience , pp. 427 - 453Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991