Men are no happier than women, and people in sunny areas no happier than people in chillier climates. The evidence on health is complex, but even chronic health problems (like those requiring dialysis) may have surprisingly little long-term effect on happiness, because we adjust to them. Beautiful people aren’t happier than ugly people, although cosmetic surgery does seem to leave patients feeling brighter. Whites are happier than blacks, but only very slightly. And young people are actually a bit less happy than older folks, at least up to age 65.

Full report on basic human pleasures.

This is Richard Posner at The Becker-Posner Blog:

Another article by Stevenson and Wolfers, “The Decline of Female Happiness,” [finds that]…in the United States men’s happiness is essentially unchanged since 1970, and women’s happiness has declined significantly… In 1970, the average woman was happier than the average man; today the reverse is true. In most other developed countries, average male and female happiness has grown, but male happiness has grown relative to female happiness…

They speculate (plausibly, in my opinion) that because women are on average more risk-averse than men, they find the range of career and relationship choices open to women nowadays a source of unhappiness.

This is Gary Becker at The Becker-Posner Blog:

Stevenson and Wolfers’ “Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being,” [finds that]…high-income persons within a country are much happier on average than poor persons. They also find, however, contrary to earlier findings, that average degree of happiness is higher in countries with higher average per capita incomes, and that the relation between income and happiness among countries appears to be about as strong as the relation within countries.

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