Newmark's Door

Danes are supposedly very happy. Should we try to emulate them? This post gives what seems like a fair appraisal of the benefits and costs. Key paragraph:

Danish life seems to involve less uncertainty. You can be pretty sure that you aren’t going to strike it rich. There are only a handful of wildly successful enterprises in Denmark, e.g., Maersk and Novo Nordisk. At the same time you aren’t going to become destitute. So you can concentrate on stuff other than trying to earn more money, e.g., connections to family and friends, participation in community groups, hobbies, etc. These non-work items are the ones that happiness nerds say are the most important.

Note, though, that the Danes' trust of each other and of the their government would have been difficult for the U.S. to achieve 50 years ago. With all the water under the bridge since then, I conjecture it would be virtually impossible today.