Comparonomics

You and most people around you are likely to be in the wealthiest 1% who have ever lived. Yet why, for so many people in rich countries, does progress not make us feel better? With the help of a new tool, Comparonomics delves into the factors that make us feel bad and reaches some surprising conclusions. Not only are we much better off than we – or the economists – think we are, but the things we aim for like economic growth, improved social mobility, and equality don’t impact most of the feel-bad factors. In other words, we’re feeling worse than we ought to, and we’re doing too many of the wrong things to feel better. With its surprisingly simple tool, Comparonomics shows just how wrong conventional economics is about progress, what impact this has on our lives and offers readers some strategies for making sense of our modern world. Grant J Ryan is the son of an Invercargill chicken farmer who ended up a hopelessly addicted inventor. He has founded several technology companies, an opensource project to protect native species, and has worked as an advisor to the New Zealand Government. Grant has a degree in mechanical engineering and a PhD in ecological economics.