Book Titles

Research… shows that most people judge their well-being not by measuring where they stand but rather based on whether they think their circumstances and income will improve in the coming years.

…statistics dictate that, on average, those born to married parents live longer, advance farther in school, earn more as adults, and are less likely to have emotional problems or commit crimes.

…academic research… shows that staying married usually leads to better physical and psychological health for both spouses…

Strictly in economic terms, increasing the supply of intellectuals, regardless of how much demand there may be for some, shows the productive power of current market systems.

Better to have lots of well-fed disgruntled intellectuals and artists than small numbers of starving crusaders.

It’s possible that the surge of national good news tells us that as pragmatism supplants ideology, society will get better at fixing things.

For essentially all of human history until the last few generations, the typical person’s lot has been unceasing toil, meager living circumstances, uncertainty about food, rudimentary health care, limited education, little travel or entertainment; all followed by early death.

The fundamental reason so many Western citizens don’t seem pleased with their lot, or even to believe their lives are mainly favored, is the discontinuity between prosperity and happiness.

…often as not, problems exist in a chain of cause and effect: For each problem solved, a new one crops up.

What could make a stupider metaphor for human self-expression than a car? Nothing is more demeaning than the idea that our cars say something about us.