of goods and services, are the reason that economic policymakers – at the behest of the public – usually put heavy emphasis on job creation and growth. along with price stability, maximum employment is one of the congress ’ s two mandated objectives for the federal reserve. and, indeed, economists researching happiness and life satisfaction have found that both inflation and unemployment detract from happiness, consistent with the focus on these macroeconomic conditions in the mandate of the federal reserve. 3 even though i hope i have persuaded you that purely economic measures of personal wellbeing are not as narrow as sometimes thought, i have so far dodged the key questions : ultimately, what makes us happy? what makes our lives satisfying in the long run? and, more subtly, how is the state of mind we call happiness, at least as social scientists define the term, related to our long - run life satisfaction? we can look inward for answers, but, at least for someone trained as a social scientist, the most direct way to tackle the question is just to go out and ask people – lots of people. in fact, psychologists for some time have been running surveys in which they have asked thousands of randomly selected people in countries all around the world to rate their own happiness or life satisfaction, and recently economists have gotten into the act. there is now a field of study, complete with doctoral dissertations and professorships, called “ the economics of happiness. ” the idea is that by measuring the self - reported happiness of people around the world, and then correlating those results with economic, social, and personal characteristics and behavior, we can learn directly what factors contribute to happiness. the results of these studies are quite interesting. one finding is that most people consider themselves to be reasonably happy, despite the undeniable hardships that many people face. asked a question like, “ taken altogether, how would you say things are these days – would you say you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy? ”, about 90 percent of respondents in the united states reply that they are very happy or pretty happy, a relatively economists have long noted the importance of the rich array of factors that contribute to individual and societal welfare. for example, nobel laureate amartya sen has been particularly clear in his discussions of the range of capabilities that contribute to welfare while also emphasizing that growth in income is one ( but most certainly not the only ) means to expanding welfare. see amartya sen ( 1999 ), development

ben s bernanke : introduction of the new $ 100 note brief remarks by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the new $ 100 note unveiling event, us treasury department, washington dc, 21 april 2010. * * * thank you, madame treasurer. a sound currency is the bedrock of a sound economy. therefore, the united states government must stay ahead of counterfeiters and protect the integrity of our currency. the three agencies represented here today all share this important responsibility, and today we come together to unveil the latest phase in our efforts – the new design for the $ 100 note. since the u. s. notes first issued by the treasury department in 1862, our national currency has played an integral role in the fortunes of our country. the federal reserve only assumed responsibility for issuing u. s. currency following the passage of the federal reserve act in 1913. as our nation ’ s central bank, we have a wide range of responsibilities related to paper money, from ensuring an adequate supply to protecting and maintaining confidence in our currency. together with our partners at the treasury department, its bureau of engraving and printing, and the united states secret service, we continuously monitor the counterfeiting threats for each denomination, and make redesign decisions based on these threats. this job has become more complex in recent years as technology advances and u. s. dollar flows expand and increase. in just the past 25 years, the value of federal reserve notes in circulation has grown from $ 180 billion to $ 890 billion, an increase of almost 400 percent. and while in the past, most u. s. dollars were held domestically, today many of these notes circulate outside of our borders. in fact, we estimate that as many as two - thirds of all $ 100 notes circulate outside the united states. for this reason, we must ensure that the people around the world who rely on the $ 100 note are educated about changes that we make to its design. we will unveil the new design for the $ 100 note in just a few moments and the federal reserve will begin putting these notes into circulation on february 10, 2011. in the intervening months the federal reserve, together with our partners represented here today, will reach out to businesses and consumers all over the world to raise awareness about the new design and explain how to use its security features. this global public education program is crucial to the successful introduction of