Happier Lives Institute
The Happier Lives Institute (HLI) is a non-profit research institute that searches for the most cost-effective ways to increase global wellbeing. It was founded in 2019 by the moral philosopher, Michael Plant.
History
In 2017, Michael Plant gave a talk at Effective Altruism Global on the best ways to improve global happiness[1]. He argued that the effective altruism community had overlooked social science research on happiness and, as a result, important global priorities such as mental health and chronic pain had been unduly neglected. The talk generated little response. Michael realised that many people were sceptical, or at least unfamiliar, with the idea that we can measure subjective wellbeing in a scientifically valid way.
In 2018, Michael delivered a ‘prequel’ talk at EAGxNetherlands to address the theoretical concerns about the nature and measurement of wellbeing. He argued that impact should be measured using subjective wellbeing questions such as “Overall, how satisfied are you with your life, nowadays?” (0 – 10) rather than relying on objective indicators of health and wealth. This did spark interest. A group of volunteers began the Mental Health Programme Evaluation Project[2] to find the best charities working on mental health in low-income countries.
The Happier Lives Institute was officially launched in June 2019. Michael completed his PhD[3] and joined the Charity Entrepreneurship incubation program. As interest in subjective wellbeing grew in the effective altruism movement, Michael was invited to Singapore and Australia to give talks on measuring and maximising what matters[4]. HLI has continued to grow since then and now employs a team of seven people.[5]
Research
HLI conducts foundational research on the nature and measurement of wellbeing and applied research to synthesise the existing data on subjective wellbeing to discover what will have the biggest impact. Their research draws on and develops previous work in the fields of philosophy, economics, and psychology.
To identify where additional resources can do the most good, HLI follows a three-stage process:
- Explore neglected global problems (such as mental health and pain)
- Identify cost-effective interventions for alleviating those problems
- Evaluate and recommend the best organisations that deliver those interventions
Charity recommendations
As of July 2022, HLI has evaluated two well-evidenced interventions: cash transfers[6] and psychotherapy[7]. A large number of academic studies[8] show that cash transfers are a very effective way to reduce poverty. The strength of this evidence led GiveWell to recommend GiveDirectly as one of their top charities. However, HLI argued that providing group psychotherapy for people with depression in low-income countries could be even more cost-effective than cash transfers and identified StrongMinds as one of the best charities delivering this intervention.
Drawing on evidence from over 80 studies and over 140,000 participants, HLI made a direct comparison of StrongMinds and Give Directly based on their effects on subjective wellbeing[9][10]. They estimate that StrongMinds is 9 times more cost-effective than GiveDirectly, which makes them their top recommendation for donors.
Foundational research
In addition to their applied research, HLI has also published a number of theoretical research papers on the nature and measurement of wellbeing.
- Estimating the moral weights of averting deaths and reducing poverty using WELLBYs[11]
- The plausibility of life satisfaction theories[12]
- The cardinality of subjective scales[13]
References
- ↑ What are the best ways to improve world happiness? | Michael Plant | EA Global: London 2017, retrieved 2022-07-13
- ↑ Donaldson, Clare. "Mental Health Programme Evaluation Project". Happier Lives Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ Plant, Michael. "Doing good badly? Philosophical issues related to effective altruism". Happier Lives Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ On measuring and maximising what matters / Michael Plant / EAGxAustralia 2019, retrieved 2022-07-13
- ↑ Institute, Happier Lives. "Meet the team". Happier Lives Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ McGuire, Joel. "Cash transfers: cost-effectiveness analysis". Happier Lives Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ McGuire, Joel. "Psychotherapy: cost-effectiveness analysis". Happier Lives Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ "Cash Research Explorer [300+ Scholarly Articles]". GiveDirectly. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ McGuire, Joel; Kaiser, Caspar; Bach-Mortensen, Anders M. (2022). "A systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of cash transfers on subjective well-being and mental health in low- and middle-income countries". Nature Human Behaviour. 6 (3): 359–370. doi:10.1038/s41562-021-01252-z. ISSN 2397-3374. PMID 35058643 Check
|pmid=value (help). Unknown parameter|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ McGuire, Joel. "Donating money, buying happiness". Happier Lives Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ Donaldson, Clare. "Estimating moral weights". Happier Lives Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ Plant, Michael. "Life satisfaction and its discontents". Happier Lives Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ Plant, Michael. "The comparability of subjective scales". Happier Lives Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
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