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definitions of economics and happiness

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A traditional definition in economics is that Economics is the "efficient utilization of limited productive resources for the purpose of attaining maximum satisfaction of human material wants." That is, we try to wisely/effectively use our scarce resources (land, labor, capital, entrepreneurship) to produce output (goods and services) in order to attain the highest level of satisfaction (happiness, utility, pleasure, etc.)

In 1963, several months before he was assassinated, a White House reporter ask then President John F. Kennedy what would make him happy. Kennedy replied, I rely on the old Greek proverb, "Happiness is the full utilization of your capacities along lines of excellence."

To what extent are these definitions of economics and happiness similar? To what extent are they different?

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Compare the definitions of economics and happiness.

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The two definitions are similar in the way that they both aim at maximizing utility from all the resources available to us - external in case of the economics definition and ...

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