Tag Archives: richard layard

The Challenge of Affluence

Avner Offer’s The Challenge of Affluence starts with certainty and ends with doubt. “Affluence breeds impatience, and impatience undermines well-being”, states Offer at the start of Chapter 1. That theme runs through the book to his conclusion, but the lessons he draws from it are not as simple or confidently stated: “Well-being is more than having more. It is a balance between our own needs, and those of others, on whose goodwill and approbation our own well-being depends … I present these findings in the hope that they will make our choices appear not simpler and easier, but as …

Posted in Books | Also tagged , , and | Leave a comment
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Margaret
    It's a few years ago now, but I remember having a problem with a car we had hired in Alaska, and having a long argument with a call-handler somewhere in the 'lo...
  • Caracatus
    The thing is we can have lower taxes (for most) and better public services. The madness of the lost war on drugs which cost billions. Sorting social care, th...
  • paul barker
    Can London build its way out of this crisis ? Londons population has gone up by more than half since the 90s & all the "Plans" are for it to go up more. Lo...
  • Steve Nash
    I agree with KP that the International Aid and diplomatic Budget should increased, to challenge both Immigration and the need for Defence. It may not be the ch...
  • Tom Arms
    @ John Kelly: I certainly didn't mean to imply that Gaza is peaceful. Sadly, civilians continue to die, humanitarian conditions remain appalling and Israel cont...