Educationvariables have a particularly large effect, except for mother’s
mental health and being white, which in that cohort was
an educational disadvantage.^14 If we leave out the effect of
childhood outcomes, the effects of the family variables rise
on qualifications, but only slightly.^15
Conclusion
Education raises the income of individuals and of nations.^16
But does it do more than this? Extra education per se raises
the happiness of the educated person somewhat, over their
whole lifetime. But it lowers the happiness of the rest of the
population. There are, however, effects in reducing crime,
which we investigate in Chapter 7. And there are hopefully
positive effects on our national civic life, which we are un-
able to investigate with data only on individuals in one
country. Moreover, as we show in Chapter 14, the quality of
education matters even more than its quantity.
So where are we so far? We have examined two of the
most common indicators of progress in most people’s
minds— higher income and more education. And we have
found that they contribute less to life- satisfaction than most
people suppose. Can it be that, relative to these rather eco-
nomic variables, we have underestimated the role of human
relationships— at work, in the family, and in the commu-
nity? This is what we turn to in the following chapters.