Happiness, Love and Scroogenomics

Tim Harford was on sparkling form in his address to the Keynes Society on Thursday night. He chose the themes of happiness, love and Christmas to explore areas in which microeconomics can offer genuinely interesting insights to the choices we make in our daily lives. It was a relief to the audience that the credit crunch was barely mentioned, although a question from the floor did prompt Tim to say that policy-makers moved with remarkable alacrity towards Keynes when the financial system moved to the edge of the abyss. At least in Keynes we see macroeconomics with some psychology at its core (reflected too in the recent work of Shiller and Akerlof). Tim discussed the data reconstructive method as a means of finding out more about why some people are more content with their lives than others. He persuaded us that, when it comes to love, the Economists probably shade the Romantics in understanding the essence of attraction. And he offered some early festive fare with a look at the economics of giving, drawing on the work of Joel Waldfogel whose new book 'Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays' might well find its way into the stockings of enthusiastic economics students!