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 Originally Posted by a500lbgorilla
Wasn't there a psychological study that shows that basic happiness in a person stabalizes over time? Split twins by losing a leg and winning a lottery, and they're basically just as happy 7 years on?
These are most likely two different ways of defining happiness. Economics uses the term "utility", which is defined best as something like happiness or preferences. An assumption is that when somebody wants Thing A more than Thing B, it's because Thing A -- at least in their own subjective mind -- makes them happier. This is a different concept than the grand "are you happy" type of happiness.
Seems to me like the fundamental aspect of economics is to understand how the ruthless and unending desire to expand, devour, and control works in sophisticates like us people.
Well, yeah, you got it. In a dysphemistic way.
The first premise of economics is that people have unlimited wants in a world of limited resources. Economics attempts to describe how resources are allocated in that world of unlimited wants and constrained resources.
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