The Frame of Reference as a Public Good
探讨消费更多商品是否让人更幸福，发现超过某一点后答案基本是否定的，但存在能提升生活满意度的消费方式，对政策制定者有重要启示。
Does consuming more goods make people happier? For a broad spectrum of goods, available evidence suggests that beyond some point the answer is essentially no. Much of this evidence is from the large and growing scientific literature on the determinants of life‐satisfaction and psychological well‐being.1 Evidence from this literature also suggests, however, that there are ways of spending time and money that do have the potential to increase people's satisfaction with their lives, and herein lies a message of considerable importance for policy‐makers. The psychologist's conception of human well‐being is somewhat different from the economist's. Economists speak of an individual's utility, which in traditional economic models is assumed to be an increasing function of present and future consumption of goods, leisure, and other amenities that people typically view as desirable. Faced with a limited income, the individual is assumed to choose among alternatives so as to maximise her utility....