Reading Analysis 10/2 - Happiness vs. Income Video

A.) I thought it was interesting to hear Robert Frank cite Darwin in his argument that realtive income, not absolute income, is what really matters for a person's happiness. Basically, Professor Frank said that the Darwinian instincts in us make it so that we're always comparing ourselves to others; if we're trailing behind them then we can't be happy. This, he says, holds true across all communities and social classes. The poorest person in a very rich neighborhood will probably be unhappy even though it's possible that he is a lot richer than most people in the country. Position in our social groups is everything and he ties this back to our desire to outcompete the others in the group, or to atleast hold par against them. He said that no matter what advances or progress our particular group makes (see antler example), it's all relative to each other. So bigger antlers for everyone is actually harmful because while all the deer grow them, they're keeping the playing field level and at the same time they're making it harder for themselves to run through more densel-wooded areas. This ties back to what Darwin said about self-treated individuals: that their advancements can actually harm the group and we saw that that was the case in the above example.

B.) When we looked at the graph for the U.S. that measured happiness in relation to income, it was surprisingly flat and Justin Wolfers said this was the case because economic growth was different for everyone in the U.S. If this is the case, why don't people in other countries experience this as well?

      If everything is looked at in relative terms, is their any importance at all for the absolute value of something?

      What could be some reasons for the negative slope in the graph of happiness/income for Belgium?

C.) I think Professor Rizzo had us watch this video to expose us to the opinions on this topic that economists hold and to demonstrate that not all economists think alike. This video should help us understand the topic better and it should get us thinking about how other aspects of life correlate with personal income.