Dismal "science"

Economics is sometimes referred to as the "dismal science". The science part is debatable but Professor Bob Cummins of the Australian Centre on Quality of Life is certainly dismal:

"Most people think that there is a simple relationship between quality of living and quality of life. In fact that is very far from the truth. This error underpins the whole discipline of economics, which makes the assumption that wealth is a proxy for happiness."

This mistake has led economists to perpetuate the idea that if you make countries richer you make people happier. "It just ain't so," says Cummins.

Making people richer makes them healthier. That alone should go a long way to making them happier.

It would be nice if Julian L. Simon was still around to counter the doom and gloom specialists.