The politics of happiness

My article "The politics of happiness" is out now on the website of Le Monde Diplomatique.

An excerpt:

"We are told that raising income tax for the wealthiest would remove the material incentives that they require in order to best perform their productive role in society. But we hear less of this point when discussing the incomes of the less well off. Apparently the non-wealthy do not require the incentive of ever-greater material rewards in order to properly play their part in the market economy. The poorer you are the higher proportion of your income is taxed. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, has called for a public sector pay freeze in order to maintain “vigilance in the fight against inflation”. This brave stance apparently need not be taken on pay for top private sector executives, which rose by an average of 16.1% in 2004 — four times faster than average earnings and eight times the rate of inflation."

Read the rest here.