Happiness lies in the present perfect

Charles Lamb’s observation that presents were better than absents chimes well with the festive season and its tradition of giving and receiving gifts. Some may rue what they call the increasing commercialisation of Yuletide and the advent of the New Year when surrogate Santas get their claws into your wallet by encouraging you to shop till you drop. However, researchers at the University of Chicago have reportedly conducted tests which show that what is often referred to as retail therapy can be beneficial to your happiness, provided you follow the regimen not for yourself but on behalf of others.

In an experiment in which the participants were given $5 a day for five days, which they could spend either on themselves or on others, it was found that the happiness quotient decreased when the volunteers spent the money on themselves but remained constant, or increased, when they spent the same sum on others.

While science seems to have endorsed the charitable prescription, such philanthropic impulses have long animated the political realm, particularly before elections. With an eye to 2019, the new chief ministers of the states that held assembly elections have gifted farmers loan waivers, in the hope that the largesse will return manifold via the ballot box, resulting in a happy state of affairs for all concerned.