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and just shovelling cash at the unemployed does not make them happy.[1]It's worth reading the paper past the initial TL;DR bullet points. It goes into interesting discussion about what exactly it is about unemployment that makes people unhappy. Some quotes from the middle of the article:
"There is plenty of evidence in support of the hypothesis that the evaluative component of
well-being depends on how much one conforms to or deviates from the norms of the
social group one associates with. For unemployment, this means that the harmful effect of
unemployment on life satisfaction is larger the stronger the prevailing norm toward work is. (...)
There is additional evidence in support of the importance of social norms to the degree of
life satisfaction of people who are unemployed. A German study finds that unemployed
people report a substantial increase in life satisfaction when they retire, although other life
circumstances remain largely unchanged [10]. The study interprets retirement as a switch in
the social group with which one identifies, from the working-age population to retirees, and
thus to a change in the social work norm. Once an individual has retired, not working no
longer violates the social work norm, and life satisfaction consequently increases. (...)
The potential felt scarcities and worries associated with unemployment are manifold. They
include fewer social contacts, less social recognition, less money, a less structured day, less
control of one’s life, and less certainty about what the future will bring. Indeed, although the
effect on happiness of temporary income reductions during unemployment is not very large,
people who are unemployed worry about their future economic uncertainty."
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I think it's still possible that unemployeds' unhappiness is caused by the work-centric culture and economy. Being shoveled money at is problematic, because you're getting for free what society expects you to get by work. Consider the ultimate welfare we all get - sunlight, breathable air. No one feels inadequate or sad because they're receiving it for free. It's part of the environment. We assume air and sun are always there, will always be there, and are available to everyone without having to work for it. I think food and shelter are things we should actually try and push to the environmental level, i.e. have it available for free and to everyone, unconditionally.