The Illusion of Well-Being: Economic Policymaking Based on Respect and Responsiveness [Hardcover]

The use of measures of economic output to guide policymaking has been criticized for decades because of their weak ties to human well-being. Recently, many scholars and politicians have called for measures of happiness or subjective well-being to be used to guide policy in people's true interests.In The Illusion of Well-Being, Mark D. White explains why using happiness as a tool for policymaking is misguided and unethical. Happiness is too vague a term to define, and too general a concept, to measure in a way that captures people's true feelings. He extends this critique to well-being in general and concludes that no measure of well-being can do justice to people's true interests, which are complex, multifaceted, and subjective.White suggests instead that policymaking be conducted according to respect and responsiveness, promoting the true interests of citizens while addressing their real needs, and devoting government resources to where they can do the most good.

1. Happiness . . . in which we try to stop a bad idea before it grabs hold.- 2. Well-Being . . . in which we cast a wider net and catch a much larger fish.- 3. Interests . . . in which we clarify what's really important.- 4. Respect . . . in which we explain how things ought to be done

The central arguments in Mark Whites book will be familiar and attractive to those inspired by the work of Friedrich Havek and James Buchanan. & White manages to touch on a wide range of topics that are of central importance to the ethics of economics, economics in ethics, and ethics out of economics. The book would be well suited as a textbook to supplement the classic literature for an undergraduate course on philosophy, politics, and economics. (Daniel D. Moseley, The Independent Review, Vol. 20 (4), Spring, 2016)

Happiness may be our most prized objective. But it is elusive, hard-to-measure, and difficult tl£R