In a society marked by extreme inequality of income and opportunity, why should economists care about how people feel? The truth is that feelings of well-being are critical metrics that predict future life outcomes. In this timely and innovative account, economist Carol Graham argues for the importance of hope鈥攍ittle studied in economics at present鈥攁s an independent dimension of well-being. Given America鈥檚 current mental health crisis, thrown into stark relief by COVID, hope may be the most important measure of well-being, and researchers are tracking trends in hope as a key factor in understanding the rising numbers of 鈥渄eaths of despair鈥� and premature mortality.
The audiobook is narrated by Katherine Fenton. Start listening to a sample chapter here.
About the Author
Carol Graham is Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and College Park Professor at the University of Maryland. She is the author of Happiness around the World: The Paradox of Happy Peasants and Miserable Millionaires; The Pursuit of Happiness: An Economy of Well-Being; Happiness for All? Unequal Hopes and Lives in Pursuit of the American Dream (快色直播); and other books, as well as numerous articles in academic journals. Katherine Fenton is an award-winning voice actor and the narrator of many audiobooks, including Ira Levin鈥檚 Rosemary鈥檚 Baby, Elizabeth Gilbert鈥檚 The Last American Man, and The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.