His Recommendations

Policy Implications

Within his section on Policy Implications, Layard shows the contrast between happiness and economics. He criticizes economic policy for not putting happiness as the main goal.

Work

It is widely accepted that unemployment is generally a disaster for a person. Layard believes that the biggest impact of unemployment is on a person's happiness. When a person loses their job, they cease to feel productive and needed by society. Economists, in contrast, do not consider the impacts of unemployment on happiness. They measure the loss of unemployment as the loss of income to society. Layard believes low unemployment should be a key goal for any government. He believes that any job is better than now job. Layard believes strongly in welfare-to-work.

People are also happier when they have job security. However, again, there is a contrast between happiness and economics. Many economists believe job flexibility and mobility should be key goals. Layard argues that collective action (including legislation) to provide reasonable job security is an important element of a civilized society.

Source: Richard Layard, Lecture 3