Happiness is not just a personal issue--it is a matter of national concern. America’s founders believed that the pursuit of happiness was a measure of the effectiveness and morality of the state. Today, we know that happy people work harder, are more charitable, have better marriages, are better parents, act...

Brooks examines vast amounts of evidence and empirical research to uncover the truth about who is happy in America, who is not, and--most important--why.

It is in pursuit of happiness that we measure our gross national happiness.

Arthur C. Brooks will deliver the May Bradley Lecture.

Linda Basch is certainly correct that the entry of so many women into the labour force has been good for the economy, good for society and good for women themselves (I would add that it has been good for men as well). But she is wrong when she implies that full-time mothers have made an unworthy choice.

Anyone who seeks to provide serious national political leadership today--those elected in 2010 or who seek national office in 2012--owe Americans a plan to escape having to choose between investing in a social welfare state or a system in which our welfare state slowly collapses under its weight. We need tectonic changes, not minor fiddling.

Q & A with Arthur C. Brooks, whose new book says the liberal agenda takes a personal toll.