Bobbicee, you put into words exactly how I feel about my children and the comsumer mentality. The trouble is, there's no end to it. Producers spend obscene amounts of money on research to invent products that will sell to gullible consumers and the youth of today are so easily bored that they make perfect consumers. Do they ever stop to consider that they don't really need that Ipod, Playstation, a mobile phone with a ridiculous camera and access to the Internet. No they don't, but as somebody once said.... "You can't put an old head on young shoulders."

Producers create in order to achieve one end.....making heaps more money than they invest on their useless products. This won't end while we have Government leaders who are more intent on creating policy that perpetuates the economic myth. At some point, either through Global warming, peak oil or whatever, this economic madness will grind to a staggering halt. The result will be massive unemployment and major recession, if not depression. We'll then see an entire generation of younger people who will not have the life skills to cope with boredom and it won't be a pleasant time for anyone.

Within any society, the affluent are generally happier than the poor. Average happiness is also generally higher in richer countries than poor ones. The time series evidence is mixed, though – perhaps inevitably, if happiness is a relative measure, we adjust our expectations according to how we felt last week or how our neighbour feels today.

Anyway, reported emotional state is an incomplete indicator of human flourishing.

A couple of personal examples.

I was the first in our family to attend university – universal access to higher education is possible only in rich societies. Being educated didn’t make me “happier” – in fact, a good education should teach us to question our values and worldviews (which is always uncomfortable) and open our eyes to life’s problems and injustices. But it did open up opportunities I’d otherwise never have had, and trained me for a rich life of the mind which has added greatly to my quality of life in a more profound sense.

A few years ago my mother was diagnosed with a serious illness. In a poorer culture or period of history she’d have died fairly shortly after, but medicine has kept her reasonably active for many years. It’s been sometimes painful for her and worrying for the rest of us, so a researcher surveying our “happiness” levels may have recorded a sustained drop. But I wouldn’t swap these gifted years for quids, and nor would she.

Ever since Adam and Eve opted for knowledge of good and evil over blissful ignorance, humans have made choices which demonstrate that the pursuit of happiness is not their only objective, and indeed that they are prepared to sacrifice happiness in order to achieve those other objectives. Our material living standard is important because it is a key determinant of our capacity to pursue those things that give us quality of life in the broader sense – health, knowledge and understanding gained through education, experience of the world and its cultures, etc. These things are no less valuable if they fail to make us happy in ways that surveys can measure.

Boaz you say economic advancement does not bring happiness. Does that mean that living in some dreadful third world slum automatically send one into bliss?
Poverty is not ennobling, it goes with fear and both are miserable companions.Particularly when one sees one's children suffer. Do the pictures of Darfur look cheerful.
I love the small bits of shopping I can manage, as soon as I save up and buy one thing, I am already planning the next.
Bobbicee, you offspring will one day reach their quiet days,we all do.But there are few more bargains to achieve yet.