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经济速成班 第33课:幸福课

来源:可可英语 编辑:Alisa   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet

Hi, I'm Adriene Hill, and this is Crash Course Economics.

嗨,我是埃德因·希尔,这里是经济速成班。
So you want to be happy? Here's your checklist.
你想要幸福吗?以下是你的幸福清单。
Get a job where you make about 82,000 dollars a year. Do not get fired from that job.
找一份年薪8万2千美元的工作,不要被解雇。
Make sure your commute is no more than 22 minutes,
确保通勤时间不超过22分钟,
and please, please, you've gotta stop looking at your friends' Facebook profiles.
还有拜托,不要再看你朋友的脸书资料了。
In the US, the pursuit of happiness is one of our inalienable rights,
在美国,追求幸福是我们不可剥夺的权利之一,
written into the Declaration of Independence right along with biggies, life and liberty.
它与其它的重要权利——生存权和自由权一起被写入了《独立宣言》。
The self-help industry is worth billions of dollars.
自助产业价值数十亿美元。
I mean, some of us hire life coaches, and for all that, happiness can seem pretty elusive.
我的意思是,尽管我们中有一些人雇了生活教练,但幸福似乎相当难以捉摸。
Economic thought over the last couple of centuries is built on a model
过去几个世纪的经济思想是建立在一个模型上的,
that says we all have unlimited, inexhaustible desires, more equals better,
该模型假设我们都有无限的欲望,欲望越多意味着越好,
and economists believed that they could tell what makes us better off by looking at how we spend our money and time.
经济学家认为他们可以通过观察我们花费金钱和时间的方式来判断什么让我们幸福。
But in recent years, those assumptions are being called into question.
但近年来,这些假设正受到质疑。
Economists and psychologists have discovered a disconnect
经济学家和心理学家发现了
between how we buy and spend and do and what actually makes us feel better off.
我们购买、花费和做事的方式与真正让我们感觉变好的事物之间的脱节。
They've realized that sometimes, getting paid nothing for doing something can make us feel happier than getting paid.
他们意识到,有时候,做某件事不得报酬比得到报酬更让我们快乐。
Like, say I cooked a friend a dinner for his birthday,
比如,我为朋友做了一顿生日晚餐,
and after we finished up the last bite of birthday cake, he offered to pay me for it.
我们吃完最后一口生日蛋糕后,他提出要付钱给我。
All of a sudden, my gesture of kindness, my warm fuzzy feelings, they disappear.
突然,我的友好姿态,我的温暖模糊的感觉都消失了。
Economists have discovered a correlation between greater income and greater happiness that's across cultures,
经济学家们发现了跨文化中更高收入和更强幸福感之间的关系,
but in some places, the effect is greater than others,
在某些地方,这种影响比其他地方更大,
but they've also found that more money has diminishing returns when it comes to our day-to-day happiness.
但他们也发现,当涉及到我们的日常幸福时,钱越多回报就越少。
Let's go to the Thought Bubble.
我们去看“Thought Bubble”。
Say Stan and I are both successful bakers.
假设斯坦和我都是成功的面包师。
Thanks to a combination of my impressive baking skills and some luck, I've become a star baker.
多亏了令人印象深刻的烘焙技巧和一些运气,我成为了一名明星面包师。
I make 500,000 dollars a year in cupcake sales and baking pan endorsements.
我每年的纸杯蛋糕销售和烤盘代言的收入是50万美元。
Stan, on the other hand, is a masterful but not famous baker. He makes 50,000 dollars a year.
而斯坦是一个技术精湛但不出名的面包师。他每年挣5万美元。
Stan and I enter a cupcake contest. I win 10,000 dollars in the cake category.
我和斯坦参加了一项纸杯蛋糕比赛。我在蛋糕分类比赛中赢了一万美元。
Stan wins 10,000 dollars for his icing and decoration.
斯坦因他的糖霜和装饰赢得了一万美元。
But that money is going to have very different effects on our lives and our feelings of happiness.
但这笔钱会对我们的生活和幸福感产生非常不同的影响。
For Stan, 10,000 dollars represents a significant portion of his income.
对斯坦来说,1万美元占他收入的很大一部分。
That 10,000 dollars may make him feel a whole lot more relaxed and better off.
它可能会让他感觉更轻松,生活更美好。
For me, an extra 10,000 dollars is nice and all,
对我来说,多一万元确实不错,
but it's not going to change much about how I live my life or what I do with my time. 10,000 dollars. Cool, whatevs.
但它并不能太多地改变我的生活方式或者我利用时间的方式。10000美元,很酷,不错。
Beyond some level of income, the value of each additional dollar has diminishing returns in terms of our day-to-day well-being.
除了某种程度的收入之外,额外一美元的价值对我们的日常幸福来说回报是递减的。
A 2010 study found in the US, it was about 75,000 dollars a year, or about 82,000 dollars when you adjust for inflation.
2010年的一项研究发现,在美国,这一程度是每年7.5万美元左右,也就是通胀调整后的8.2万美元。
After that, the researchers discovered a person's day-to-day happiness levels just don't change that much.
超过该水平后,研究人员发现人们的日常幸福水平并没有多大变化。
But the same researchers also looked at another form of happiness:
但同一批研究人员也研究了另一种形式的快乐:
asking people how satisfied they were with their place in the world, and there, money mattered.
他们询问人们对自己社会地位的满意程度,以及身处该地位时金钱的重要性。
The study found that there was a difference between the wealthy and super, duper insanely wealthy when it came to overall satisfaction with their lives.
研究发现,富人和超级富豪在生活满意度方面是有区别的。
Thanks, Thought Bubble.
感谢“Thought Bubble”。
So we know that some people have a natural predisposition to be unhappy,
我们知道有些人天生就不快乐,
and some people seem more inclined to constant joy. Those people are annoying.
有些人似乎一直快乐着。这些人令人讨厌。
For a long time, psychologists believed that most people have a set point for happiness,
长期以来,心理学家们认为大多数人都有一个幸福的设定值,
and that most big changes, positive or negative, had only a temporary effect on happiness.
大多数重大改变,无论积极的还是消极的,对幸福的影响都只是暂时的。
But more recent studies show that economic choices and circumstances can have lasting effects on just how happy we are.
但最近的研究表明,经济选择和环境会对我们的幸福感产生持久的影响。
For one, there's a pretty clear relationship between unemployment and happiness.
举例来说,失业和幸福感之间有着非常明确的关系。
Basically, being out of work can make people out and out miserable.
基本上,失业会让人痛苦不堪。
By some estimates, unemployed people have 5-15% lower life satisfaction scores than people with jobs.
据估计,失业者的生活满意度比有工作的人低5-15%。
Studies have found that the negative effects of unemployment are greater in high income countries.
研究发现,在高收入国家,失业的负面影响更大。
There's also research showing the happiness of middle aged people is more negatively affected by unemployment than older people.
也有研究表明,中年人的幸福感比老年人的更容易受到失业的影响。
You might be thinking, "duh, people without a job aren't making any money, so, of course they'd be less happy"
你可能在想“咄,没有工作的人赚不到钱,他们当然不那么高兴。”
but economists have found that the loss of well-being due to unemployment
但经济学家发现,失业造成的幸福感下降
is greater than can be explained by the immediate loss of a paycheck.
比直接失去薪水要大得多。
One explanation is that unemployment makes people worried not just about paying the bills today, but also about the future.
一种解释是,失业让人们不仅担心现在的账单,还有未来的账单。
Economists have also found that moving from a part-time job to a full-time job makes people happier,
经济学家还发现,从兼职转到全职会让人们更快乐,
but the correlation between hours worked and happiness doesn't continue up and up and up.
但工作时长与幸福感之间的关系不会一直持续下去。
At some point, when you're working all the time, happiness levels start declining.
在某一时刻,你一直工作的时候,幸福感就开始下降了。
Imagine it like an upside down U shape,
想象一下,它像一个颠倒的U形,
kind of like an "I'm working all the time and never get to see my friends" sad face.
有点儿像“我一直在工作,从没见过我朋友”的悲伤表情。
Long work commutes make people less happy.
长时间的通勤让人们的快乐减少。
Credit card debt makes people less happy,
信用卡债务让人们不那么快乐,
and inflation, it turns out, especially unpredictable inflation, can make people less happy.
事实证明,通货膨胀,尤其是不可预测的通货膨胀,会让人们的快乐减少。
We like stability and for our savings to hold their value.
我们喜欢稳定,希望我们的储蓄能够保值。
It's not just the ups and downs of what you can afford that affects your happiness.
不仅是你负担之物的起起伏伏影响你的幸福感,
It's also what the neighbors can afford.
你周围的人能够承受的也会影响你的幸福。
There's something called the Reference Income Hypothesis or Ranked Income Hypothesis.
有一种说法叫做参考收入假说或排名收入假说。
It says that the satisfaction I get from my income and consumption level
它是指我从收入和消费水平中得到的满足感
depends on how I'm doing compared to everyone else around me.
取决于和周围其他人相比时我的做法。
So if the wealthy star baker version of myself lives around millionaires,
我这种明星面包师生活在百万富翁之间
I might be less happy than if I lived in a middle class neighborhood, even if I'm making the same income.
可能比生活在中产阶级中间更不快乐,即使我也是收入百万。
A 2009 study found this is true to an extent.
2009年的一项研究发现这在某种程度上是正确的。
Researchers found out Americans were happier when they lived in rich neighborhoods in poor counties.
研究人员发现,美国人住在贫穷国家的富人区时会更快乐。
The authors wrote, "It appears that individuals in fact are happier when they live among the poor,
作者写道:“事实上,人们居住在穷人中间时似乎更快乐,
as long as the poor do not live too close."
只要穷人住得不太近。”
This idea that status matters, maybe more than absolute income,
该观点是说地位很重要,或许比绝对收入还要重要,
brings us around to something known as the Easterlin Paradox.
它把我们带到了所谓的伊斯特林悖论。
It's named after an economist named Richard Easterlin,
它是以经济学家理查德·伊斯特林的名字命名的,
who back in the '70s, found that as the income level of a country rises,
他在70年代发现,随着一个国家的收入水平上升,
the average level of happiness in those countries doesn't always follow.
该国的平均幸福水平并不总是跟着上升。
This happens even though we know there is at some level a positive relationship between income and happiness.
即使我们知道在某种程度上,收入和幸福感之间存在着正相关关系,但这种情况还是会发生。
So, what's going on?
那么发生什么了?

dollar.png

One explanation is that we derive happiness from status rather than absolute income

一种解释是我们从地位而不是绝对收入中获得幸福,
so if an entire country gets richer, even if our income goes up,
所以如果整个国家都变富了,即使我们的收入增加了,
our status and relative income stays about the same and we don't get any happier.
但我们的地位和相对收入保持不变,我们仍不会更快乐。
Another explanation gets back to the set point of happiness we talked about before.
另一种解释要回到我们之前说过的幸福感设定值上。
Some economists talk about the Hedonic Treadmill or Hedonic Adaptation.
一些经济学家在谈论快乐水车或享乐适应症。
Here's Rousseau describing the phenomenon:
卢梭这样描述这种现象:
Since these conveniences by becoming habitual had almost entirely ceased to be enjoyable,
由于这些已经成了习惯的便利几乎完全失去了乐趣,
and at the same time degenerated into true needs,
同时它们又沦为了真正的需要,
it became much more cruel to be deprived of them than to possess them was sweet,
所以剥夺它们的残忍比拥有它们的甜蜜更严重,
and men were unhappy to lose them without being happy to possess them.
人们因为失去它们而不高兴,没有了拥有它们的快乐。
I can remember the joy I felt when I got my first smartphone.
我可以记得自己得到第一部智能手机时的快乐。
Now I've adapted to the point that my phone's kind of annoying, but if somebody took it away, I might cry.
现在我已经习惯了手机有点儿烦人的设定点,但如果有人把它拿走,我可能会哭。
There's a third explanation out there regarding the Easterlin Paradox
关于伊斯特林悖论还有第三种解释,
and that's that it's not actually a paradox at all, basically that it doesn't hold.
那就是它其实根本不是一个悖论,它基本上是站不住脚的。
There's been some research that shows the paradox is only true for relatively wealthy countries,
有一些研究表明,这种悖论只适用于相对富裕的国家,
where the basic needs of citizens are already being met.
那里市民的基本需求已经被满足了。
In lower GDP countries, the studies find that there are overall increases in happiness when income rises.
研究发现,在GDP相对较低的国家,当收入增加时,幸福感会整体上升。
More recently, economist Betsy Stevenson and Justin Wolfers argued that
最近,经济学家贝齐·史蒂文森(Betsy Stevenson)和贾斯廷·沃尔弗斯(Justin Wolfers)提出,
average levels of happiness rise in countries where income rises, regardless of how wealthy that country is.
无论国家有多富有,该国的收入增加时,平均幸福水平也会上升。
The data, they say, points to a clear relationship between GDP per capita and average levels of well-being.
他们说,这些数据表明,人均GDP和平均幸福水平之间存在明显的关系。
All of this happiness research matters when you think about how governments measure progress
当你思考政府如何衡量进步
and decide what the right path is for a country.
并决定国家的正确道路时,所有这些幸福研究都很重要。
For a long time economic growth has been at the center of economic policy.
长期以来,经济增长一直是经济政策的核心。
It explains some of our global fixation on GDP numbers.
它解释了全球对GDP数据关注的原因。
But if you believe that an increase in income and stuff isn't going to make people happier and better off,
但是如果你相信收入和物质的增加并不能使人们变得更快乐、更好,
income growth may not be the best to way to mark or judge the progress of a society.
那么收入增长可能不是衡量或判断一个社会进步的最佳方式。
A focus on GDP and growth might hide and even exacerbate issues
对GDP和增长的关注可能会掩盖问题甚至使其恶化,
like income inequality and environmental damage related to increased consumption.
比如收入不平等和与增加消费有关的环境破坏。
In the 1970s, the king of the tiny country of Bhutan proclaimed that
在20世纪70年代,小国不丹的国王宣布,
"Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product."
“国民幸福总值比国民生产总值更重要。”
Instead of measuring economics progress using GNP or GDP,
政府不是用GNP或GDP来衡量经济发展,
the government tracks GNH, Gross National Happiness,
而是追踪国民幸福指数(GNH),
which considers the social, physical, spiritual and environmental health of its citizens. And it's not just Bhutan.
它考虑的是公民的社会、身体、精神和环境健康。不只不丹这样。
In 2011 the United Nations adopted a resolution that calls for member states
2011年,联合国通过了一项决议,呼吁各成员国
to give greater weight to happiness and well-being when figuring out how to pursue social and economic development.
在思考如何追求社会和经济发展的同时,更注重幸福。
But this focus on happiness in addition to economic growth isn't a truly new idea.
但是,除了关注经济增长之外还关注幸福并不是一个真正的新想法。
All the way back in 1968, U.S presidential candidate Robert Kennedy
早在1968年,美国总统候选人罗伯特·肯尼迪
got up in front of an audience at the University of Kansas and criticized the focus on economic output alone.
就在堪萨斯大学的观众面前站起来,批评政府只关注经济产出。
"Our Gross National Product, now, is over 800 billion dollars a year,
“现在,我们的国民生产总值每年超过8千亿美元,
but that Gross National Product, if we judge the United States of America by that,
但这个国民生产总值——如果我们用它来衡量美国——
that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising,
该国民生产总值还包括了空气污染和香烟广告,
and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage."
以及为交通事故而奔忙的救护车。”
He goes on: "it measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning,
他继续说:“它既不能衡量我们的才智和勇气,也不能衡量我们的智慧和学识,
neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country,
还不能衡量我们对国家的同情和贡献,
it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile."
简而言之,它能衡量除了使生命有价值之外的一切事物。”
Well, I don't think we could write a better ending to the show, or to the series, than that.
嗯,我认为我们不可能为这个节目或系列写出更精彩的结局了。
Thanks for watching. It's been such a pleasure.
感谢您的收看,真是太荣幸了。
Thanks for watching crash course economics
感谢您收看经济速成班,
which is made with the help of all these nice people who work on the show because it makes them happy.
它是由这些好心人帮助制作的,他们制作节目是因为它会让他们快乐。
You can help keep crash course free for everyone by supporting the show at Patreon.
你可以通过支持Patron上的节目帮助速成班免费对所有人开放。
Patreon is a voluntary subscription service where you can support the show with a monthly contribution.
Patreon是个自愿订阅服务的平台,你可以每月捐助帮助节目制作。
Thanks for watching.
感谢您的收看!

重点单词   查看全部解释    
compassion [kəm'pæʃən]

想一想再看

n. 同情,怜悯

联想记忆
lasting ['læstiŋ]

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adj. 永久的,永恒的
动词last的现在分

联想记忆
social ['səuʃəl]

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adj. 社会的,社交的
n. 社交聚会

 
category ['kætigəri]

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n. 种类,类别

 
credit ['kredit]

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n. 信用,荣誉,贷款,学分,赞扬,赊欠,贷方

联想记忆
contribution [.kɔntri'bju:ʃən]

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n. 贡献,捐款(赠)

 
reference ['refrəns]

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n. 参考,出处,参照
n. 推荐人,推荐函<

联想记忆
bubble ['bʌbl]

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n. 气泡,泡影
v. 起泡,冒泡

 
inexhaustible ['inig'zɔ:stəbl]

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adj. 用不完的,无穷的,不知疲倦的

联想记忆
explanation [.eksplə'neiʃən]

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n. 解释,说明

 

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