Revealed preference generally agrees with the author's point. If we regard the degree to which people value their lives in terms of how much money they'll pay

Revealed preference generally agrees with the author's point. If we regard the degree to which people value their lives in terms of how much money they'll pay to avoid an x% risk of their life ending the numbers are, in general, shockingly low. Of course we can talk about how inconsistent people's preferences are all night. My hypothesis is that people are unhappy mainly when they have few allies (people with similar values). I believe that there are certain physiological reactions that take place when you are among those you identify strongly with and that if this never or almost never happens a general malaise is the result.