Angus Deaton Quotes

My agenda is trying to help people live a better life.

It's clear that policymakers and economists are going to be interested in the measurement of well-being primarily as it correlates with health; they also want to know whether researchers can validate subjective responses with physiological indices.

We participate and are responsible for a lot of the things that happen to us. If you hate your job, you are much more likely to get sick and die at a younger age than someone who's happy at work and has a nice family life and is mentally well adjusted.

And, in fact, you can find that the lack of basic resources, material resources, contributes to unhappiness, but the increase in material resources do not increase happiness.

That is now my mission: to provide a European vision of growth, employment, prosperity - in one word, our future.

I really had to go back and remind myself that trusting makes society function on an individual level related to health and on a social level related to economic growth and development.

People think it's a terrible tragedy when somebody has Alzheimer's. But in my mother's case, it's different. My mother has been unhappy all her life. For the first time in her life, she's happy.

Economic growth and human development need to go hand in hand. Human values need to be advocated vigorously.

Money is not necessarily, although it helps a lot for happiness, it's not necessarily the best way to be happy, to be rich, you know.

Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous. That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor.

There is no evidence that success in business will make us happy people or allow us to have happy families.

It's nonsense to say money doesn't buy happiness, but people exaggerate the extent to which more money can buy more happiness.

It is the potential for economic growth that provides the basis for the development of countries, for bringing to people essential goods and services, such as water to drink and facilities for healthcare.

The ultimate purpose of economics, of course, is to understand and promote the enhancement of well-being.

Now it is time to turn to an older wisdom that, while respecting material comfort and security as a basic right of all, also recognises that many of the most valuable things in life cannot be measured.

When the Korean economy was just trying to get back on its feet after the war, having parks was a luxury.

If you have the feeling of choice, if you feel free, you will be better off. And when I say better off I mean that if people feel they have control over their lives, they call in for fewer sick days from work. They have a lesser probability of having a heart attack or stroke. They live longer. They're happier.

Rwanda really did take very strong steps towards development. I mean, this place is unrecognizable. There's a very good management of economy and resources - it's a success story, and that's great.

I am bullish on the global development. I am bullish on billions of people getting out of poverty.

My 2020 Vision for India is to transform it into a developed nation. That cannot be abstract; it is a lifeline.

Camiguin, Romblon and Camarines Norte got out of the list of poorest provinces in 2003. With tourism, these provinces can become rich.

At the same time, we are keenly aware that China is still the largest developing country in the world and we need to make long and hard efforts if we are to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and basically achieve modernization.

I have known healthy, wealthy people who were depressed, and people with critical illnesses who could honestly attest to joy.

The major challenge facing us is to elevate our national life to the highest level of civilization and prosperity.

I want the standard of living in Iran in ten years' time to be exactly on a level with that in Europe today. In twenty years' time we shall be ahead of the United States.