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Can you estimate the dollar value of happiness?
by Tade0 2y ago
Can you estimate the dollar value of happiness?
- nkmnz 2y agoCan you estimate the additional happiness brought by trains?
- jona-f 2y agoNo, but we can look at the amount of misery, that is prevented by not using cars. Traffic jams, pollution, accidents, waste of resources,... The difference is so huge, we don't need to put a number on it. Public transport might be unpleasant for the individual, but is clearly very much better for everyone than using cars.
- withinboredom 2y ago> Public transport might be unpleasant for the individual Where is this true?
- chgs 2y agoWhen it’s overcrowded, typically caused by policies such as work from office.
- withinboredom 2y agoAt least here, that only happens the day after holidays.
- stickfigure 2y agoYes. For that matter, you can calculate the dollar value of a human life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_life Numbers vary around the world, but FEMA in the US decided on $7.5M in 2020. Financial investments are economic decisions. Whether or not you like the idea of assigning financial value to fuzzy concepts like happiness or quality adjusted life years, you still have to do it. The simple act of choosing to spend $N or not choosing to spend $N puts an implicit price on the result. By putting approximate numbers in the spreadsheet - no matter how crude - we can at least end up consistent and fair. Otherwise we could end up spending vast sums to make a few people a little happier instead of smaller sums to make lots of people a lot happier.