November 21, 2005
Voting causes happiness? Really?:
I love the New Economics Foundation and I think they do great work, but at first glance this report on Britain's democractic deficit looks like it makes the classic correlation-is-not-causation blunder:
'There is significant evidence that the democratic deficit at the heart of the British electoral system is making us unhappy. The 2001 post election survey shows that there is a strong link between levels of personal well-being, the health of communities and voting behaviour. People who voted in the election tended to be more trusting, have higher levels of civic duty, were more engaged in their local communities and were happier than people who didn’t vote.'
More here
