Virginia Postrel, Columnist

It’s a Healthy Sign When Americans Fail the ‘Happiness’ Test

The ranking measures contentment and complacency. It penalizes imagination, opportunity and ambition.

February 12, 2022 at 1:00 PM UTC

Virginia Postrel is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She is a visiting fellow at the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University and author, most recently, of “The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World.”

They may not be happy but they are ambitious.
Photographer: Bloomberg

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When the 10th annual World Happiness Report comes out next month, several things are sure bets. The Nordic countries will score highest. The U.S. won’t be in the top 10. And commentators will suggest that if Americans could only be more like the Finns and Danes — with a stronger social safety net, less economic inequality, more ethnic homogeneity or cozier homes — we wouldn’t be so grumpy.

What few will notice is that the ranking doesn’t measure happiness. It measures contentment and complacency. It penalizes imagination, opportunity and ambition.