Measuring Misery

Meteorologists use something called a "discomfort index," which combines the temperature and the humidity rate, to tell us how nasty the weather is. Now Congress has hit upon a "misery index" to tell us how nasty the economic climate may be. A rather imprecise tool of the Joint Economic Committee, the index is reached simply by adding the inflation rate to the unemployment rate.

It comes to 14.5 (8.3% unemployment + 6.2% inflation). That represents a drop from 1974's punishing year-end in dex of 16.6, but still marks a stark in crease from 1960, when it was 7.1.

When the index climbs as high as it is now, the results can be distressing. During a regional hearing in Atlanta last week, the Joint Economic Committee was told by M. Harvey Brenner, an associate professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University, that there are concrete correlations between economic hard times and serious physical and social ills. According to Brenner, high inflation and widespread unemployment bring increased suicides, higher incidences of cirrhosis of the liver due to heavier drinking, and an upsurge in mortality from cardiovascular diseases. There is also an apparent strong correlation with increased crime--the next subject Brenner has agreed to look into for the committee. So far, nobody has begun looking into how low the misery index must drop before it can be called the happiness index.

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