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Honson Tran
Professor Tieka Harris
Expository Writing 101: KF
30 November 2015
Economic Health in Happiness
In the United States of America under the Declaration of Independence, every human is
give the right to the pursuit of happiness. However, although humans were given this right, they
are still left the task to pursue it. Individuals might find happiness through materialism or other
things that bring them contentment. This is a factor that keeps our economy alive. If people are
unhappy or not content with their selves or their own lives, the individual might want to buy
things to fill in that gap, which can be used as an exploit by industries. From this exploitation, a
significant gap between the rich and the middle class or under is created. Joseph Stiglitz, in
Rent Seeking and the Making of an Unequal Society, discusses how the rich, also known as
the few, use the power of rent-seeking to steal wealth from classes underneath them. Likewise,
Michael Mosss text, The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, discusses how the
food industry is taking advantage of consumers through the low-profile engineering of foods to
make them appealing to the consumer. Fortunately, the balance between industries and
consumers can be maintained through the ideas discussed in Daniel Gilberts Immune to
Reality, which talks about how happiness can be created through our understanding of our
psychologic immune system. The psychologic immune system is similar to that of an
immune system, which fights off disease, but instead fights of bad experiences. The economic
implications that come with obtaining happiness through understanding the psychological
immune system will lessen the gap of economic inequality between the people and the few,
ultimately bringing society closer to economic equality.
Commitment and the joy of satisfaction points toward closing the gap between the people
and the few through a decrease in materialism. Happiness comes from being content with what

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one has, not with what one wants. Consumers are constantly bombarded by a variety products
and ads to make us believe that the good life is the goods life. If one cannot obtain that good,
the individual ends up unsatisfied and unhappy. According to Gilbert, although having the power
of choice depicts freedoms, another way of looking at it is to be free from the burden of choice.
Gilbert states, we have no trouble anticipating the advantages that freedom may provide, but we
seem blind to the joys it can undermine (Gilbert 139). By being under the impression that
having the power of choice leads to happiness, ones ability is handicapped to be satisfied with
the power of satisfaction and contentment. An example of this is shown through the food
industrys engineering of products from collected data. Moss explains that food engineering
computers have a mathematical model that maps out the ingredients to the sensory
perceptions these ingredients create so [Moskowitz] can just dial a new product (Moss 263).
By making new flavors, this gives more freedom to consumers to choose, increasing profits.
However, by following Gilberts idea of freeing ones self from the burden of choice, these
varieties will not be needed, leading to a decrease in materialism and potentially solving
economic inequality. Along with a decrease in materialism, Gilberts argument also prevents
monopolization as well. Markets and entry-level businesses will be able to thrive in the business
world. For instance, satisfaction and commitment could lead to brand loyalty through quality
instead of price. Therefore, whichever company manufactures the best product will be the one
who dominates that market. In essence, if a firm makes greater profits than that on a sale, rivals
will attempt to steal the customer by lowering prices. As firms complete vigorously, prices fall to
the point that profits (above the normal return to capital) are driven to zero (Stiglitz 380). With
Gilberts argument, the economic implications of satisfaction and commitment adds the factor of
competitive quality along with competitive pricing. By being content from a product that has

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served an individual well, the difficulty of stealing customers increases. Pricing is bound to get
competitive, but higher build quality leads to more expensive build cost per unit, therefore
stopping monopolies from intending to undermine current prices. As a result, the economic
implications of understanding that freeing ones self from the burden of choice reduces
monopolization and materialism.
Secondly, understanding the psychologic immune system also means to understand that
learning to differentiate what should and should not be explained can lead to a happier life as
well as a healthier balance between the industry and the consumer. In order for individuals to
understand how to be happy, Gilbert argues that just as explanations ameliorate the impact of
unpleasant events, so too do they ameliorate the impact of pleasant events (Gilbert 140). In
other words, humans should enjoy things the way things are. If something brings joy to an
individual, there is no need to give explanation to the experience. Economically, by leaving
certain experiences and events unexplained, companies will benefit from knowing more than the
consumer, allowing them to increase profits. According to the way how the market works, since
sellers are trading constantly, and buyers enter only episodically, sellers have more information
than buyers and they use that information to their advantage (Stiglitz 399). Even though
ignorance is being cultivated through leaving experiences unexplained, the economy is based off
of consumer ignorance in order to market their products. Although it may seem as if consumers
being unaware is a disadvantage to reaching economic equality, the industry side of the economy
needs some ignorance in order to sell at their prices indicated to gain profit. Since Gilbert
mentions that explaining unpleasant events can ameliorate them, industries can continue with
their operations as long as it does not negatively affect others. If it does, Gilbert urges to
associate our experiences with circumstances that produced them as well as explain how and

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why those circumstances produced the experiences they did, therefore leading to keeping
companies in check. (Gilbert 140). For an example, the obesity issue in America can be describe
as an unpleasant experience. Due to the food industrys ignorance and lack of care of the
peoples health, the food that was once previously a pleasant experience changed into an
unpleasant one. An instance of an unethical attitude is shown by Stephen Sanger, head of General
Mills. He states, look, were not going to screw around with the company jewels here and
chance the formulations because a bunch of guys in white coats are worried about obesity
(Moss 261). Although these food products might initially provide pleasant experiences, the
experience in the long run could be unpleasant. With attitudes such as Sangers, consumers will
begin to question the spread of obesity, inevitably evaluating the root cause of the situation,
resulting in attempts to solve it. With Gilberts argument, economic implications of leaving
things explained and unexplained will create a balance between the consumer and the
corporation through evaluating the industrys wrongs and giving credit for what they are doing
right.
Most importantly, learning and understanding that the mind favors action over inaction
and courage over cowardice will lead to healthier long term spending habits, ultimately leading
to a more balanced economy. By choosing to act instead, the individual will be able to learn from
the experience and fully take in what has happened. Gilbert explains this action and inaction in
the form of a marriage proposal. Gilbert states that when our inaction causes us to reject a
marriage proposal from someone who later becomes a movie star, we cant console ourselves by
thinking of all the things we learned from the experience because well, there wasnt one
(Gilbert 136). By deciding to take action, one can eliminate the thought of regretting not taking
any other path and focus on taking in what has happened. Likewise, buying from a company and

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having a bad experience from it will help people learn not to buy from that company again. The
obesity epidemic strongly depicts this. If obesity were to follow Gilberts argument, food
industries will have to inevitably change their perspective on marketing. Sanger reports to not
talk to [him] about nutrition talk to me about taste, and if this stuff tastes better, dont run
around trying to sell stuff that doesnt taste good (Moss 261). As time passes by, the lack of care
regarding nutrition from food industries will affect the people, and those who take action to help
the food industry thrive will learn from the experience of unhealthy eating. Similarly, individuals
who take action in government against industries and favor courage over cowardice can help
limit the power of the few, resulting in a working effort to equalize the power distribution and
influence between the people and the few. Stiglitz mentions this effective enforcement on
limiting the power of the few.
Effective enforcement of competition laws can circumscribe monopoly profits; effective
laws on predatory lending and credit card abuses can limit the extent of bank
exploitation; well-designed corporate governance laws can limit the extent to which
corporate officials appropriate themselves firm revenues (Stiglitz 402).
Those who take action can help point the economy to the start of creating economic equality and
monitor monopolization. If not, the foolishness of inaction will cause unhappiness and regret of
not deciding to make a change. The government is supposed to represent the people, but because
of the lack of inaction, corporations have gains stronger influence over the government than the
people themselves. Therefore, understanding that humans cope better with an excess of courage
will hopefully encourage making a difference.
Overall, if humans were to grasp the understanding of the psychologic immune system,
materialistic mentalities will shift toward more intrinsic values such as commitment and

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satisfaction. Intrinsic values could also include learning to take risks through an excess of
courage, disregarding cowardice, and learning to enjoy things as they are in life. Along with
these ideas to happiness, a happy consumer is also the start to a healthier economy. Happiness
seems to be achieved through a balance of ignorance and awareness. Synergistically, the
economy relies on the ignorance of consumers to spend, but the limit of this ignorance is
revaluated when the industry is doing more harm than good. The economic implications that
follow Gilberts ideas of achieving happiness lead to positive results in maintaining economic
balance between the industry and the consumer.