From: Hal Finney (hal@rain.org)
Date: Thu Nov 12 1998 - 23:32:38 MST
I think the real point is that even if people in poor circumstances turn
out to be happier than those in better circumstances, it does not follow
that people will make themselves happier by making their situation worse.
The things that make disadvantaged people happy may not apply if someone
knows that they had intentionally given up advantages they previously had
in order to become disadvantaged. You could only draw this conclusion
if the people in a bad situation were happier even though they had
voluntarily made themselves that way.
Hal
> If this research is accurate, a rational libertarian should voluntarily give
> away most of their wealth every so often to maximize happiness. The short term
> hit after giving it away is more than compensated for by the long term
> opportunity to rebuild from a low base. It is rather counter intuitive though.
> How convincing would the research need to be for people on this list to adopt
> such a strategy? What would be the economic effects (Robin?)?
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