How these 3 things make the Obamas’ Lives Happy

(Picture from Barack Obama’s Twitter) The former First Lady, Michelle Obama, has just started a podcast. The first guest was her husband, President Barack Obama. I think if they had never participated in politics, they would have been much more popular. The podcast was really deep, inspiring and insightful. Even if you hated the former president’s policies, …

Do You Really Need Marriage to Be Happier?

(Photo credit: Fernando Weberich) In 2019, even in the more open-minded cultures, if you reach a certain age and are still single, people would still feel sorry for you, or would think something is wrong with you. One of the happiness buttons is not pushed yet and your life is not complete. But do you …

He Was Right about Social Connections 2300 years ago

(Photo by Richard Mortel) In the famous Maslow's hierarchy of needs, things like friendships, relationships, etc. are recognized as a basic need, slightly less important than safety and security. In the World Happiness Report, of which one of the purposes is to estimate what factors contribute to the happiness of a country, has found that …

Meditation and Economics: What is the Connection?

(photo by Mohamed Hassan) Long time ago, if you talked about meditation in front of me, I would probably roll me eyes immediately, thinking that mediation is some kind of silly spiritual thing. But I am a person who can be persuaded by evidence. Later I learned that meditation is beneficial in many ways based …

Unnecessary Trade: Deviation from Happiness?

How happy are you? How happy are your family members and friends? I think our societies, especially the relatively rich ones, have a lot of potential to further our happiness*. This is how I see it. Why are we not reaching the potential happiness level? I think a lot of it comes from mispredictions and …

Can We Measure Happiness?

"How can people possibly measure happiness?" I once thought, and I believe many people would ask the same. With the technology we have today, it is very easy to measure time, length, mass, temperature, etc. We have standardized units for them, and they can be objectively measured using tools. But happiness is a subjective property, …

You Are Eating Too Much McDonalds: Under-consumption and Over-consumption

(Photo by Gabriel Li) Do you eat very little vegetables and fruits? Do you smoke or drink a lot? Do you not exercise? You know that is not good for you, right? Sorry for sounding like your mom or grandma. This is to bring up one point: most of us do not choose the optimal …

The Sequel of the Supermarket Challenge (“I can’t choose!”)

From the last trip to a supermarket with me, you know that I am a terrible person to go grocery shopping with. I am, in a sense, very rational and usually try to choose a product that would maximize utility (pleasure/well-being). I try to make a choice that maximize nutrition and taste, and minimize the …

Suicide: How Does Unemployment Cost Lives?

As I have said before, unemployment is more than just a matter of losing income, it does incur psychological costs. People do not just feel anxious about the loss of income, they feel sad, ashamed, lost, etc. for not serving a purpose, losing self-respect, social connections, etc. If the society and the government forget that …

The Supermarket Challenge (Choice Overload and Bounded Rationality)

I can be a terrible person to go grocery shopping with, and recently I have come to understand why. If you ever go grocery shopping with me, you would see me standing in front of the fridge, wondering which milk would be the best, or standing in the vegetable section, wondering which vegetable I should …