How some people can maximize their happiness even though they are not actively pursuing it

One of people’s most important goals tends to be the pursuit of happiness. In a new survey which measures people’s subjective well-being (another way of thinking about happiness), Marc Fleurbaey and Hannes Schwandt find that 90 percent of people are seeking to maximize their subjective well-being, though they are willing to sacrifice some of this in the short term to benefit their families and for their long-term well-being, They also find that the actual subjective well-being of those who are working to maximize it is lower than those who are not, something that they attribute to both disadvantage of opportunity and sacrificing of well-being in the short term to help others and themselves in the future.