The price of happiness

It probably sounds bizarre but someone has actually tried to put a price on happiness. When I say price, I mean an actual monetary price! A few weeks ago Australian economics professor Paul Frijsters claimed to have established benchmark prices for events and emotions that lead to happiness and discontent.

Prof. Frijters tracked the major life events of his subjects over a period of years assigning values to their state of mind after important life events and sudden change of income. He claims that this enabled him to put a money value on, for example, love, separation, moving house and unbelievably also on the loss of a loved one. These values, he adds, are called the "psychic costs" and "psychic benefits" of these changes. For example, the death of a partner or a child is like the loss of £350,000 to a man, but only £73,000 to a woman! There are more examples which I consider silly and will decline from quoting here. What I think of this "study" as beyond the point. My point is simply to illustrate the extent to which our cultural pipeline has become sadly clogged with the obsessive idea of money and its perceived notion of happiness and the transformation of values.

How is all this really applicable to the Maltese? In a time when the Church and civil society constantly point towards some crisis of values, could it be that the Maltese are changing so rapidly as to forego their traditional values, principles and beliefs? Is all this affecting our level of contentment? Some may suggest that our society has been overcome by the free market economy and unbridled consumerism. Others on the other hand believe that the fragmentation of the traditional notion of values such as family, marriage and cohabitation have been long time a coming and that we are simply playing catch up with our European neighbours. Others reiterate that both latter observations are an exaggeration. Possibly the reality is a shade of all three.

Back to happiness. According to the World Database of Happiness, way back in 2006 the Maltese people were leading the worldwide happiness barometer. As in all absolutes, it is rather hard to understand being the best at anything especially when we define such abstract ideas. Probably a better survey was conducted by Eurobarometer and published late last year as to the idea of happiness throughout the EU. The survey revealed that the three values most associated with happiness were, in descending order, health, love and work. Health was overwhelmingly the most important value that constituted happiness (73 per cent). This was followed by love (44 per cent). Interestingly only 37 per cent equated work with happiness. Probably as this study was conducted before the recession started biting I suspect a higher score would have registered were this question asked again today. Even more striking were the low scores attributed to values like order, solidarity, freedom and justice. In this case, I suppose you can't miss something you already have.

How did the Maltese fare in all of this? Some surprising facts emerged. The Maltese appear to lend very much weight to their state of health, and actually this is above the average.

As to work and love they score similar attributions to our fellow Europeans. Co-incidentally the Maltese attribute very little happiness to values like friendship (17 per cent), money (23 per cent), tradition (five per cent) and pleasure (four per cent). It is clear that we have prioritised our expectations to real and priceless values such as health and love shying away from the more mundane aspects that constitute happiness.

One wonders whether these studies are mere statistics or whether it might be possible to gain insight into our Mediterranean mindset. Have we by and large simply raised our standard of living at the expense of its quality? These questions are rarely answered easily. There is no doubt in my mind that the living standards of the Maltese have vastly improved in the last 40 years. Even more, our demands have also been raised beyond expectations. On the one hand it is commendable to observe us strive further to achieve academic and economic success. This is no mean feat for an island as tiny as ours. We have been able to adapt and change. We have also been courageous when necessary to take difficult decisions refusing to isolate ourselves in some cocoon.

Maybe less praiseworthy is our dash to acquire, consume and "develop" all that is around us too quickly. A classic example is our relentless rate of construction and its ensuing consequences. Mind you, change does not happen overnight.

Though changes are gradual and slow it appears that our values are still not matching up to the rate of change. For example, we still have a long way to go to discard our severely individualistic view of government and nation. Our notion of the "common good" remains obscure. Sadly we expect too much but hope to contribute the minimum required. Furthermore, many social issues seem stalled and waiting impatiently to be tackled once and for all. I hope addressing these issues will continue to enhance our living standard and contribute to living contentedly.

I suppose putting a price on happiness remains impossible and elusive. Too many factors play a part in trying to live a happy life. Still, it does not hurt to keep those vital aspects that make our lives what they are if we wish to be complete and content.

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