Spirit Level: Benefits of a More Equal Society

Happiness and Average Incomes Argument Flaws

figures of happiness and declaration of it has a lot to do with culture and whether if saying you are not happy is admission to failure. Plus happiness is very subjective.

Other health and social problems studied

physical health, mental health, drug abuse, education, imprisonment, obesity, social mobility, trust, community life, violence, teen pregnancy, infant mortality,

Happiness and Average Incomes

Curves from both happiness and income flatten off at $25,000 per capita. And further studies have shown that at that curve, rich countries like Japan, USA, and Britain did not experience higher levels of happiness as the country got richer. We may be relatively happy, but what for?

Philosophical Observation

Book starts with a poignant observation. That in the pinnacle of human material and advancement, we somehow find ourselves anxiety-ridden, obsessively shopping and drinking, and medicating ourselves to the point we forget who we are.

Introduction to the Study

British epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett have studied over the course of 10 years the correlations between pernicious health and social problems using usually either national income per person or the gini coefficent. Their book the spirit level argues that greater equality will equal a stronger society, no matter how rich the society actually is.

Homicide More Common in Unequal States

No data available for Wyoming. Louisiana has a murder rate of 107 per million, seven times higher than in New Hampshire and Iowa (15) In America, 2 out of 3 murders are comitted using guns. There are more murders where there are more guns. That's why Alaska has a much higher murder rate than NY, Conn, and Mass (low gun ownership)

Drug Use Study in Animals

Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine took twenty monkeys and noted social hierarchies for a bit. Then they taught monkeys that they can administer cocaine by pressing a lever, taking as much as they like. Dominant monkeys experienced more dopamine activity and took much less cocaine. Evidence adds plausibility that inequality is related to mental illness and drug abuse.

Why

So why did I just show that? I just believe that enough money is enough. Inequality is somewhat unnecessary because who needs that much money?

Homicides More Common in More Unequal Countries

U.S. murder rate is 64 per million compared to the U.K's 15 per million and Japan's 5.2 per million. To address Finland and Singapore, Finland has a much higher rate of household gun ownership and Singapore have a much lower rate.

When You Put it Together

When all data is put together, it is clear that equality correlates with a healthier society.

!!!

Wilkinson and Pickett argue that society as a whole is a material success and a social failure. Especially the United States and this is clear in the last graph comparing worldwide happiness levels to national income per person, adjusting of course to inflation and currency