Happyland Is a Country Devoted to Consumption

question 78

Essay

Happyland is a country devoted to consumption. The inhabitants spend all of their income on pleasurable things and virtually none on capital investment, human or otherwise. Seriousland is frugal, spending very little on consumption and a great deal on human and physical capital. Ten years from now, which country would you prefer to inhabit?

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Definitions:

Dividend

A payment made by a corporation to its shareholders, usually as a distribution of profits, which can be issued in various forms such as cash payments or further shares.

Geometric Average Rate

The average rate of return that accounts for compounding over a specified time period.

Stock

A type of investment that represents ownership in a corporation, giving the holder a claim on part of the corporation's assets and profits.

Standard Deviation

A statistical measure that quantifies the variation or dispersion of a set of data points.