CAN CHOOSING MAKE US UNHAPPY?

CAN CHOOSING MAKE US UNHAPPY? Dick Weisfelder in his comment today raises the question of whether consumers in general would be happier with less and cites Edward Bellamy’s novel from the century before last (a tad wrenching to use that phrase) in support. I think the happiness economics research that finds that happiness is not greatly increased after a base level is reached ($25,000 as I recall) provides support for Bellamy’s position (which may well be Dick’s position too). I have a lot of thoughts on this issue which I will come back to again and again. In brief, I am generally in agreement with Annalisa: “More is more.” But I want to raise a narrower issue. Does having too many choices make the process of choosing painful? Barry Schwartz argues that it does in THE PARADOX OF CHOICE and in this fascinating interview. In the interview Schwartz uses the word “satisficing” to refer to making a decision on the criterion “That’s good enough” in a way that resembles what Dick refers to as “lagom.” Herbert Simon, a non-economist who won the Nobel Prize in economics for work he did in his spare time, claimed that a lot of economic choices are made this way. And they must be or people would never get through the day. I am skeptical about Schwartz’s position because I think it is original. I can’t think of any examples in history or literature of a rich person complaining of the burden of choosing among all their alternatives. The closest example I can think of is the protagonist in John Barth’s THE END OF THE ROAD. As I recall, he is paralyzed by choice and pursues the study of prescriptive grammar as therapy.He encounters an existentialist and they have adventures together. I think of the book, which is quite funny, as being a comment on existentialism rather than on consumerism. I will post tomorrow about how and why I agree with Schwartz.