How to be happy during a pandemic | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
September 23, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2023
How to be happy during a pandemic

Panorama

Tyler Cowen, Bloomberg
15 September, 2020, 11:00 am
Last modified: 15 September, 2020, 11:27 am

Related News

  • Spurs 'family' behind Richarlison, says skipper Son
  • World disappointed by the UN now looks elsewhere for answers
  • Bangladesh’s Tawhida Shiropa in Vogue Business 100 Innovators 2023
  • Western exporters rob $8b in three years: PM's energy adviser
  • Storm on the outside, storm on the inside: How extreme weather impacts the mind

How to be happy during a pandemic

The instinct is to save money, but if you have it, we’d all be better off if you spent it

Tyler Cowen, Bloomberg
15 September, 2020, 11:00 am
Last modified: 15 September, 2020, 11:27 am
Be happy one bite at a time. Photo: Bloomberg/AFP
Be happy one bite at a time. Photo: Bloomberg/AFP

Happiness is lower, insomnia is higher and there has been an increased incidence of mental health issues during the pandemic. This raises the question of how people can find more ways to be happy during these difficult times. We humans are often creatures of habit, slow to adjust to new circumstances, so which changes should we make?

One striking feature of the pandemic is that US personal savings rates have spiked. In April, the rate exceeded 30%. It has been falling, down to 19.5% in June, and will probably fall further yet. But it is still much higher than it was in the pre-Covid era, when it ranged from 3% to 8%.

Despite these falling rates, Americans probably ought to spend even more. Savings have been so high in part because people are hoarding resources for an uncertain future. But a lot of the explanation, especially for those with higher incomes, is that planned expenditures became impossible, dangerous or inconvenient. Instead of flying to Paris and staying at a hotel on the Seine, they drove to a cabin in Maine or West Virginia. Or maybe they postponed that purchase of a new car or spent less time browsing in a bookstore. In any case, the end result is less spending and more savings, whether conscious or not.

Those may well have been prudent decisions. Still, many of us are not spending enough money having fun. We have been too slow to develop new, Covid-compatible interests.

So think how you might achieve more pleasure from spending money. Ordering more books? Spending more time at the farmer's market? Subscribing to more online newsletters? If you wish to see the new movie "Tenet," for example, but fear virus exposure, you and your friends may be able to rent out a whole theater for less than $200.

To some extent people are already doing such things. But it is a common result in empirical economics that consumption habits are slow to adjust to changing circumstances, especially unprecedented circumstances. It is not enough for you to develop new spending habits — you should double down on them.

You also should be giving more to charity. Remittances from the US to Mexico have risen recently, an unusual outcome in a typical recession. Part of the story is that Mexican migrants have fewer ways to spend their money in the US, due to Covid-related restrictions, and their relatives and friends in Mexico are in needier positions. So follow their lead and do more to help people around the world. It might prove more rewarding than buying more heirloom tomatoes.

A related piece of advice: Tip more, either when you eat out (preferably outside) or when you receive home delivery of food. Waiters and food-service delivery people face higher levels of danger on the job, and are more likely to have precarious family financial situations. So if you used to tip 15%, try 20% or 25%. Just dip into those savings.

You also should spend more time driving to see your friends. (If you have kids at home, you might consider giving both yourself and them a break and driving them to see their friends.) In most parts of America, traffic is noticeably less than it was before the pandemic, so take advantage of that. I recently visited a friend for an outdoors lunch in Washington. What used to be a 75-minute trip from Virginia now took only 45, and with much less uncertainty.

If you are like me, you probably know a lot of people who live just a little farther away than you are used to traveling. Suddenly they are closer than you think. Meeting in person, even with social distance, is one way to lessen the emotional isolation many people are experiencing because of the pandemic.

The stresses and problems of the pandemic are very real, and we can't just wish them away. But we are imperfect creatures of habit and routine, and if we can accept just a bit more change at the margin — starting with our wallets — it can help us all.


Disclaimer: This article first appeared on Bloomberg, and is published by special syndication arrangement

Analysis / Top News

Happiness / pandemic / Coronavirus Pandemic / mental health

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • File photo of State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam. Photo: UNB
    Nothing to lose from visa restrictions: Shahriar Alam
  • US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu. Photo: Collected
    Visa restrictions imposed on law enforcers, ruling party, and opposition: US Envoy Donald Lu
  • Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina meets UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the United Nations' Headquarters in New York on Friday (22 September). Photo: PID
    Will continue to promote democracy as per constitution: PM Hasina says in UNGA

MOST VIEWED

  • Foodpanda up for sale in most Asian markets. What about Bangladesh?
    Foodpanda up for sale in most Asian markets. What about Bangladesh?
  • Bangladesh-Myanmar visa exemption reinstated
    Bangladesh-Myanmar visa exemption reinstated
  • Rain water entered in many roadside shops in the city. This photo was taken from a shop in Zafrabad, West Dhanmondi on Thursday (21 September). Photo: TBS
    Heavy rain causes severe waterlogging in Dhaka
  • Photo: TBS
    Chattogram Zoo acquires hippos, gives tigers to Rangpur Zoo
  • Areas around the Dhanmondi 8 bridge submerged in rainwater on Thursday (21 September). Photo: TBS
    4 die from electrocution as live wire falls in rainwater in Mirpur
  • An aerial view of the Matarbari coal-based power plant in Cox's Bazar's Maheshkhali upazila. Photo: TBS
    Matarbari deep sea port channel handed over to Ctg Port Authority

Related News

  • Spurs 'family' behind Richarlison, says skipper Son
  • World disappointed by the UN now looks elsewhere for answers
  • Bangladesh’s Tawhida Shiropa in Vogue Business 100 Innovators 2023
  • Western exporters rob $8b in three years: PM's energy adviser
  • Storm on the outside, storm on the inside: How extreme weather impacts the mind

Features

This photo captured from in front of the Institute of Engineers around 11:30pm Thursday shows the severe waterlogging on Dhaka road. Photo: TBS

A swim through the city

3h | Features
Photo: Akif Hamid

Celebrating the Dhaka Elevated Expressway with Volkswagen Club Bangladesh

4h | Wheels
The Runner Skooty has become a popular choice for people looking to beat the scary city traffic, especially for its low maintenance and practical features. Photo: Akif Hamid

Runner Skooty 110: A versatile companion for urban mobility

4h | Wheels
X-Files: 30 years of the truth being out there

X-Files: 30 years of the truth being out there

8h | Features

More Videos from TBS

After almost two months, the Ukrainian grain ship left the Black Sea port

After almost two months, the Ukrainian grain ship left the Black Sea port

1d | TBS World
Revenue collection rises 15% in first two months of FY24

Revenue collection rises 15% in first two months of FY24

1d | TBS Economy
Fans call for Amir’s inclusion after Naseem Shah's injury

Fans call for Amir’s inclusion after Naseem Shah's injury

1d | TBS SPORTS
Chittagong University walls painted in graffiti

Chittagong University walls painted in graffiti

3h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]