Kimball interprets ‘happiness index’

But Are You Happy?

By DAVID GLENN

"Count no man happy until he is dead," warned the Athenian lawmaker Solon. Economists at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor are now cheerfully disregarding that advice: Last summer they created what might become the first large-scale, long-term index of American happiness.

Since the 1940s the university's monthly 500-person survey of consumer optimism has asked such questions as, "Do you think now is a good or bad time to buy major household items?" Beginning last August, that survey has also included a short battery of questions about happiness, or the lack thereof.

The new questions are the brainchild of Miles S. Kimball, a professor of economics at Michigan who meditates for half an hour each morning to increase his own happiness. He hopes that accumulating high-quality data about happiness over time will shed light on people's actual desires and preferences.

By chance, the happiness questions were introduced just a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. Not surprisingly, the survey discovered a sharp drop in mood during the week after the hurricane. The plunge in happiness was especially strong in the South Central region, but it extended throughout the country. It seems clear, Mr. Kimball says, that even people whose families suffered no direct losses had altruistic feelings of sadness, in solidarity with people suffering along the Gulf.

So will television newscasts begin to tout the Michigan happiness data as frequently as they do the Dow industrial index? Two cautions: First, Mr. Kimball has not yet secured the money to continue the happiness element of the survey beyond its first year.

Second, and more importantly, Mr. Kimball warns that no one should assume that people always try (or ought to try) to maximize their happiness. "People sometimes knowingly and thoughtfully and without regret sacrifice their own happiness," he says. "You might sacrifice happiness for duty, you might sacrifice it for the sake of your kids, you might sacrifice it for honor and glory. You might even willingly sacrifice your happiness so that you can accumulate more stuff, although I wouldn't personally do too much of that."

It might be wise, Mr. Kimball says, to think of happiness as similar to health. "I will willingly sacrifice a bit of my health to enjoy the taste of ice cream one evening," he says.

And no one should expect, Mr. Kimball adds, that the Michigan happiness measures will generally trend upward as societies and individuals become richer. As people grow more prosperous, they expect to consume more. But, as every novel you read in junior high school tried to teach you, there is no simple relationship between consumption and happiness.

"The things that are known to add to your long-run happiness," Mr. Kimball says, "are almost all time-intensive. Spending time with friends. Exercising. Getting lots of sleep. Meditating. We can go down the list. We're richer than we used to be, but we still only have 24 hours in a day."

Solon, for his part, would probably insist that the Michigan index be permanently fixed at zero. "No man is happy," he once said. "He is at best fortunate."

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