Richard Layard (Talent 06) 'The economist of happiness'

Ongekend Talent Podcast

The first podcast we recorded in Miami was above anything we ever expected, with a very special guest: Sir Lord Richard Layard. Just a number of facts in a row: - He helped advise Ton Blair’s government from 1997 to 2001; - He is the author of several books: Happiness: A New Science, Thrive, The Origins of Happiness, A Good Childhood, Handbook of Labor Economics, and many more; - He is a labour peer and professor at the London School of Economics; - He is co-author of the World Happiness Report, which ranks the level of happiness in different countries. Things we talked about in this podcast, Richard said: In contrast to 50 years ago we have larger houses, we are better educated, go on holiday twice a year and even live healthier, while one thing has not improved; we are more unhappy than before. Sir Lord Richard Layard explains why. Some context about how we met Sir Lord Richard Layard: It was a last minute decision to go the world happiness summit in Miami last March. A very beautiful chain of events made that we somehow had to be there. Besides that normally our podcasts are recorded in our mother tongue Dutch, so you can imagine how exiting and nervous we were. We apologize beforehand for the flaws you might notice. ;-) One of our close contacts, Asha Lalai, arranged that we could interview him late at night in the lobby of his hotel. This 84-year-old man indicated that he wanted to do the interview with us but just for a few minutes. In the end it has become a very informative and interesting podcast that has lasted a little longer than that. J Thank you so much Richard Layard!