Book description
When this classic work was first published in 1976, its central tenet--more is not necessarily better--placed it in direct conflict with mainstream thought in economics. Within a few years, however, this apparently paradoxical claim was gaining wide acceptance. Scitovsky's ground-breaking book was the first to apply theories of behaviorist psychology…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Joyless Economy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Are we able to use free time, once secured our livelihood, to make life happier?
The Joyless Economy provides a negative answer, as the title already suggests.
The book is premonitory because Scitovsky wrote in the 1970s referring to the United States, while today Americans say they are less happy, despite the economic and technological progress since then..
Scitovsky was still original in explaining this puzzle: the pursuit of happiness in the comfort of material goods and social approval has prevailed over the pleasure of learning, as children do when they play, and then over the pursuit of ambitious life…
From Maurizio's list on human development in advanced economies.
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