REPORT(英文报刊读物).doc

Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals? SUMMARY How do feelings about ideology and economic inequality affect a persons happiness? As part of his reporting of Making Sen$e of financial news, economics correspondent Paul Solman explores the connection and asks some liberals at Occupy DC and conservatives at the American Enterprise Institute to grade their own happiness. Transcript JEFFREY BROWN: And finally tonight, how do your feelings about economic inequality impact your sense of happiness? NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman finds out. Its part of his regular reporting on Making Sense of financial news. PAUL SOLMAN: How happy are you, scale of one to four, one not at all happy, four very happy? LORI SANDERS, American Enterprise Institute: Im a four. PAUL SOLMAN: A four? LORI SANDERS: Im very happy . PAUL SOLMAN: Lori Sanders works at the conservative Washington think tank the American Enterprise Institute. A few blocks away, Occupy D.C.er Eric is on the more liberal end of the spectrum. What number would you give yourself? MAN: A one. PAUL SOLMAN: Are you unhappy, do you think, because of the inequality, economic inequality in this country? MAN: Well, yes. PAUL SOLMAN: Study after study, it turns out, finds conservatives happier than liberals. Yale social psychologist Jaime Napier has a theory as to why. JAIME NAPIER, Yale University: Economic inequality really does affect peoples subjective well-being. PAUL SOLMAN: Napiers work has convinced her conservatives are happier than liberals because they think theres equality of opportunity in America. JAIME NAPIER: One of the biggest correlates with happiness in our surveys was the belief of a meritocracy, which is the belief that anybody who works hard can make it. That was the biggest predictor of happiness. That was also one of the biggest predictors of political ideology. So, the conservatives were much higher on these meritocratic beliefs than liberals were. PAUL SOLMAN: Liberals like the folks we