The Guardian view on New Year resolutions: fitter, happier, more productive | Editorial
A very rare thing is happening this week: hundreds of millions of people across the world are undertaking a massive economics experiment. True, hardly any of us think of it as such. Instead, we pledge to lose weight, give up the demon weed or just to get along with our mothers-in-law. But each of these New Year resolutions are exercises in attempting to change what we do - and as such are voyages deep into social science.
Your pledge to lead a healthier and happier life is terrain on which the economists have firmly planted their flag. The US professor and economics blogger Tyler Cowen claims: "Understanding economics can help you make better decisions and lead a happier life." Wander into any bookshop and the economics section will be full of paperbacks promising to explain how and why single people choose to get married, send children to expensive private schools or deal drugs. Perhaps titles such as Freakonomics and the Undercover Economist can be accused of being pop. But consider the late Gary Becker, who received the Nobel prize for economics in 1992 for extending "the sphere of economic analysis to new areas of human behaviour and relations". His trademark was to look not at "the economy" but to train his microscope on matters of daily life - racial discrimination, child-rearing, even suicide.
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