"As Keith points out, the practical and political problems to a minimum income are huge. But an argument for it is that it would encourage more grassroots innovation. That is, folks would be willing to try new things (plant a new crop, start a new…"

"The time scale idea is intriguing, and I do like the formulation that "in the short run, actors creat relations; in the long run, relations create actors.". And I think there is something to this. I am less comfortable with saying that…"

"Along the lines of John's previous comments, in parts of Yucatan, Mexico, where proxies for poverty have long been used, there is talk now of discarding telephones and t.v.s as signs on not being poor (since virtually everyone has a cell phone…"

"Very interesting paper, and you are right, Huon, the methods look familiar to an anthropologist, but nice to see them picked up more formally in such development contexts. Such proxies, for one, can be more sensitive to wealth (and not just…"

"Interesting.  The biological analogies can be revealing, although I think even such metaphorical comparisons feed into a notion that market forces are somehow natural.  Yet, as you note John, they certainly end these paragraphs with the…"

"Thank you, Huon, for your fine work on this, and thanks to all for an incredibly thoughtful and productive seminar.  I learned a lot."

"Nice point, Melanie.  Happiness is definitely transitory, and wellbeing very well may be as well, given changes over the life course (as John has pointed out) and power relations (Tijo).  At the same time, I tend to think there is…"

"Here, anthropology’s quality seems also to be its curse (at least, I every now and then see it like that). We tend to be better capable of accounting for nuance and contradictions. We are trained at deconstructing our own views (see also…"

"Good point, Huon.  I would mention that if we substitute "multidimensional wellbeing" for "the good life" some economists (e.g. Robert Fogel) use height to stand in for overall wellbeing.  It is an interesting idea:…"

"Daniel brings up two key points that I left out of this paper, and while I deal with them a bit more in the longer manuscript, they are still weak spots.  Miller in his work on shopping gets at the complexities of decision making very…"

"John: great nutshell of Charles Taylor, and I basically agree with his framing, a good description of the moralities that go into eudaimonic happiness.  Still, it doesn't fully address the familial (and other) power issues that Tijo and…"

"Yes, Ryan, you are right about the long-term versus (or not necessarily "versus" as you point out) short-term interests.  And your thoughts on how to actually operationalize these.  Do you think the efforts to create "triple…"

"Yes, John is right to call attention to labor relations (and family structures) as key domains for negotiating what "the good life" means to different people.  The Japanese example is fascinating, especially as compared to…"

"Keith writes that “the pressing question is how to build societies that cater for human interests more effectively than those that dominate the world at present.”    Indeed, and this is an injunction we need to hear and…"