The Happy Economist Happiness for the Hard-headed

Most economists are obsessed with financial and economic measures, but Ross Gittins mounts a provocative and persuasive case for happiness being the most important measure of all. Distilling the practical wisdom from all the recent scientific study of happiness by psychologists and economists, he argues that happiness isn't about maintaining a forced smile or a self-centred concern to maximise pleasure and minimise pain, but about living a satisfying life of endeavour, achievement and mutually rewarding relationships. Most of us are happy most of the time, but there is more we could do to increase our satisfaction. And a different approach by governments - with less emphasis on economic growth and efficiency, and more on preserving the planet and the social fabric - could add to 'national happiness'.

Ross Gittins is the economics editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, an economic columnist for the Age, the author of Gittinomics, and a former auditor for an accounting firm. He was a recipient of the Citibank Pan Asia award for excellence in financial journalism.