Do a country 's people get happier as it gets richer? Most governments seem to believe so, given their continuous focus on increasing GDP year by year. Reliable, long-term evidence linking wealth and happiness is, however, lacking. And measuring well-being is itself filled with problems, since it often relies on surveys that ask participants to assess their own levels of happiness subjectively.
Daniel Sgroi of the University of Warwick and Eugenio Proto of the University of Glasgow, both in Britain, think, nevertheless, that they have an answer.
By examining millions of books and newspaper articles published since 1820 in four countries (America, Britain, Germany and Italy), they have developed what they hope is an objective measure of each place’s historical happiness. And their answer is that wealth does bring happiness, but some other things bring more of it.
In Britain, for example, happiness fell sharply during the two world wars. It began to rise again after 1945, peaked in 1950, and then fell gradually, including through the so-called Swinging Sixties, until it reached a nadir around 1980.
America’s national happiness, too, fell during the world wars. It also fell in the 1860s, during and after the country 's civil war. The lowest point of all came in 1975, at the end of a long decline during the Vietnam war, with the fall of Saigon and America’s humiliating defeat.
Overall, then, Dr Sgroi and Dr Proto found that happiness does vary with GDP. But the effect of health and life expectancy is larger, even when the tendency of wealth to improve health is taken into account.
A one — year increase in longevity, for example, has the same effect on national happiness as a 4.3% increase in GDP. And, as the grand historical sweep suggests, it is warfare that causes the biggest drops in happiness.
On average it takes a 30% increase in GDP to raise happiness by the amount that a year of war causes it to fall. The upshot appears to be that, while increasing national income is important to happiness, it is not as important as ensuring the population is healthy and avoiding conflict.
【小题1】According to the passage, why do most governments continuously focus on increasing GDP year by year?| A．To increase its people 's wealth. |
| B．To strengthen its people 's health. |
| C．To improve its people 's happiness. |
| D．TO improve its overall national strength. |
| A．Warfare has no effect on happiness. |
| B．Happiness has nothing to do with GDP. |
| C．GDP is the most important factor in improving people 's happiness. |
| D．Health and life expectancy bring more happiness than GDP does. |
| A．Happiness rose to the top in Britain around 1980. |
| B．America’s national happiness fell to the bottom in 1975. |
| C．A one — year increase in longevity has the same effect as GDP on happiness. |
| D．The fall of happiness caused by war takes a 30% increase in GDP to raise. |
| A．What on earth can bring people 's happiness? |
| B．Why wealth can 't bring people 's happiness? |
| C．What effect can war have on people 's happiness? |
| D．Why health can bring happiness to people? |
