How Can We Measure Women's Happiness?

Russ Douthat writes in an op-ed in the NYT about a new study showing women are not as happy as they used to be.

He writes, "This is “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,” the subject of a provocative paper from the economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers. The paper is fascinating not only because of what it shows, but because the authors deliberately avoid floating an easy explanation for their data."

One comment Douthat makes really hit home with me: "Or perhaps the problem is political — maybe women prefer egalitarian, low-risk societies, and the cowboy capitalism of the Reagan era had an anxiety-inducing effect on the American female."