# Should governments promote happiness?

- Institution: Gresham College
- Speaker: Lord Layard
- Year: 2009
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Psychology and the brain, Society and politics
- Source: [Gresham College](https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/should-governments-promote-happiness)
- Licence: [Educational use (Gresham College's terms)](https://www.gresham.ac.uk/terms-and-conditions)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

Traditional economics is founded on a mistake: that income can be equated for happiness as the ultimate aim of government. It is long overdue that we start rethinking how governments and economists should work, because the aim of public policy should be to make people happier. In this lecture, Lord Layard will explain the foundations of why income is a poor approximation for happiness, as has been shown by modern psychological research.

## Lectures

1. [Should governments promote happiness?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/gresham/should-governments-promote-happiness/2ba6f1a6d29e) (YouTube)