Which Ethics Will Make us Individually and Socially Happier? A Cross-Culture and Cross-Development Analytical Model

Abstract

This paper provides an analytical model representing four polar ethical approaches, by linking them to the main ethics suggested by the philosophical, psychological, and socio-economic literature. Moreover, it develops the analytical model in order to obtain rankings of the 4 polar ethical approaches in terms of happiness and, consequently, to provide insights on which ethical approach should be adopted by each individual, according to his characteristics (income level, in DCs or in LDCs, aspiration level): some dynamics are predicted, if the Golden and the Copper rules are applied. Finally, this paper provides insights on which ethical approach should be adopted by each society, according to its characteristics (DCs or LDCs, social distribution of aspiration levels), by predicting happiness levels in alternative countries, according to the prevailing ethics, and by comparing these predictions with the observed happiness levels, in order to provide an empirical test of the analytical model: some dynamics are predicted, with non-Protestant DCs moving to higher, and Protestant DCs towards lower, happiness levels (conditioned to the per capita income), due to the increasing and decreasing rejection of the Golden and Copper rules, respectively, and with LDCs moving to lower (conditioned to the increasing per capita income) in the short-run and higher happiness levels in the long run, by establishing and entertaining conditions that set clear incentives for moral behaviour, in order to increase and decrease the adoption of the Golden and Copper rules, respectively. 2

Which Attitudes Will Make Us Individually and Socially Happier and Healthier? A Cross-Culture and Cross-Development Analytical Model

“…I normalised ha* to 1 in order to obtain an analytical solution. However, the present analysis showed that the relationship between happiness, health, and ethical freedom was consistent with the relationship between happiness and ethical freedom discussed in Zagonari (2009). I tested the robustness of the analytical model by assuming that people are neither lucky nor unlucky on average, and by applying the average values at u*=0.…”

“…In addition, achievements are more likely to be closer to the fs border for β and γ types of attitude than for the α type. By stressing that ethical freedom and its social implications (i.e., fr) are distinguished from personal attitudes that lack social implications (i.e., α, β, and γ attitudes), in this analysis, I will refer to Zagonari (2009) that predicted a negative fr for members of Protestant religions and a positive fr for members of non-Protestant Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu religions and for atheists; in addition, I have associated the α, β, and γ attitudes with the Aristotelian, Epicurean, and Stoic attitudes to life, respectively. Indeed, α evokes the flourishing of personal potentials (i.e., a percentage increase of one's feasible set), β is attached to an ongoing percentage increase in achievements (i.e., meeting one's current goals or desires), and γ evokes the awareness of a common destiny (i.e., a percentage increase over the average conditions of other individuals within one's group).…”

Technology improvements and value changes for sustainable happiness: a cross-development analytical model

“…Also see Engelbrecht (2009) for macrolevel relationships between happiness and natural capital, Bonini (2008) for macro-level relationships between life satisfaction and environmental conditions and Welsch (2007) for macro-level relationships between SWB and pollution. This constraint does not represent a causal link between greater happiness and greater sustainability; too many variables other than per capita national sustainability might affect per capita national happiness, including the states of economic development (Veenhoven 2005), democracy (Welsch 2003), social tolerance (Haller and Hadler 2006) or ethics (Zagonari 2011), for it to be possible to identify relationships or causal links between happiness and sustainability.…”

The Effects of Community Quality of Life on Local Policy Decisions

“…This challenge has led to the development of the subjective indicators approach (Cummins, 2000;Diener & Suh, 1997;Dissart & Deller, 2000;McCrea et al, 2006). The subjective indicators approach is based on citizens' assessments of their life situations including both tangible conditions such as per capita income, crime rate, and air and water quality (Phillips, 2006;Sirgy, 2001) and intangible values such as social equity, freedom, morality, and ethics (Falkenberg, 1998;Liao et al, 2005;Zagonari, 2011). Subjective QoL entails experiences, perceptions, attitudes, and values combined with life conditions (Massam, 2002).…”

“…Given that the subjective dimension of QoL is based on evaluation of tangible conditions such as per capita income, air and water quality, and crime rate (Phillips, 2006;Sirgy, 2001) and intangible values such as social equity, freedom, morality, and ethics (Falkenberg, 1998;Liao et al, 2005;Zagonari, 2011), community QoL supplements outcome-based performance indicators.…”