F

or the past few months, my col-
umn has covered hefty topics 
such as Facebook data breaches, 
Blackberry’s pivotal strategy and Bud 
Light’s false advertising. This week, I am 
switching things up and digging into the 
economics of something worth far more 
than the multibillion dollar bottom lines 
of corporations: joy.
It’s been a while since many of us took 
Economics 101, but most remember the 
first fundamental pillar of microeco-
nomics: supply and demand. Demand 
illustrates how much of a product or ser-
vice is wanted by consumers at a certain 
price, and supply represents how much 
the market can offer. When consumers 
buy more electric vehicles, the demand 
for gas decreases. When a drought ruins 
a strawberry harvest, consumer demand 
is often higher than the number of straw-
berries available, and the price of straw-
berries jumps. But what happens when 
supply is infinite and the price is $0? An 
economist’s nightmare and a consumer’s 
dream, this is a commodity named joy.
S

o, what exactly is joy?
A barista who compliments 
your haircut. The sun peeking out 
on a cloudy day. “Congratulations” in the 
subject line at the top of your inbox. At a 
university that demands enduring focus 
and a pervasive culture of “multi-taskers 
or nothing,” our minds gravitate to things 
outside of our control in order to find 
what we call joy. After all, we don’t have 
time on our calendars to pursue grandi-
ose activities with the sole purpose of 
comfort.
And the world isn’t wrong when it tells 
us that there is joy in the little things. 
But the problem with “the little things,” 
or even the big things that bring us hap-
piness, is that they are circumstances 
often out of our control. While I admit to 
euphoria in the face of a sunny day and 
an unhesitating grin in exchange for a 
compliment, I believe there is a sizable 
concept we miss in our quest for joy: joy 
in perspective.
But what does economics have to do 
with it? Take mornings, for example. 
Many of us wake up to our alarms with 
two goals in mind: maximize sleep and 
get to class on time. Every hindrance 
along the way contributes to our vexation, 

and our unrelenting focal point is to sim-
ply beat the clock. One missed breakfast 
too many, and we find ourselves confront-
ing what inevitably becomes a bad day.
Welcome to marginal analysis. In eco-
nomics, marginal analysis examines the 
benefits of an activity compared to the 
additional costs incurred of continuing 
that activity. In the pursuit of joy, positiv-
ity can often prove to be the more expen-
sive option compared to pessimism.
When positive, perspective takes on 
a snowball effect. One positive thought 
prompts our brains to seek another, and 
we watch our attitude build on optimism 
as the snowball runs its course. This illus-
trates increasing marginal returns. But 
the hardest part is packing 
the first snowball, or rather, 
seeking out our first positive 
thought. This is an upfront cost 
to consider in our marginal 
analysis of joy.
Yet when a perspective is 
negative, the opposite of the 
snowball effect occurs: The 
domino effect. Since negative 
thoughts are easier to conjure, 
they reproduce in our brains 
quicker causing us to seek out 
complaints more frequently. 
Unlike the snowball effect 
which reaps positive marginal 
effects as positive thoughts 
gain 
momentum, 
negative 
thinking occurs quickly and 
effortlessly — like standing 
dominoes.
To understand the human 
tendency to pursue the cheap-
er, negative perspective, con-
sider common conversation: 
“It’s finally nice outside.” “My 
day has been good, can’t com-
plain.” Can’t complain. This is 
our tainted rendition of posi-
tivity — a mere extension of 
negativity. Because joy comes 
at a cost measured by the cur-
rency of our effort, marginal 
analysis deems negativity to 
be cheaper. There is no upfront 
cost to set the domino effect in 
motion.
Just as we can’t control posi-
tive occurrences, we can’t con-

trol their negative counterparts either. 
Economics shows us that negativity is 
easier, but one concept trumps any temp-
tation to abandon joy in perspective: 
opportunity cost.
When we choose joy, we trade in effort 
to focus on what is going right. We choose 
celebration and we choose organic ener-
gy. We abandon the easy and elect the 
challenge to reap its subsequent benefits. 
On hard days, it is a hefty price to pay. 
Complaint runs in our culture and we 
aren’t trained to run against the grain. 
But the fruits of this labor are generous; 
when we choose optimism, we develop 
the capability to control the definition of 
our good and bad days.

At the heart of economics rests the 
acknowledgement that human behav-
ior can only be modeled into supply and 
demand graphs to an extent. Ultimately, 
we are irrational. We make decisions 
spontaneously and sometimes need a day 
to relish in gloom. But the value is found 
in taking the variable cost of positive 
thought into a long-term consideration. 
The practice of continually choosing joy 
will pay higher dividends than continu-
ing our rituals of negativity. The supply of 
both is perpetually in surplus, but it is up 
to us to fuel our demand of joy.
In support of Stress Awareness Month, 
happy April.

Wednesday, April 3, 2019 // The Statement
2B

BY ROMY SHARMA, STATEMENT COLUMNIST
The economics of joy

Managing Statement Editor

Andrea Pérez Balderrama

Deputy Editors

Matthew Harmon

Shannon Ors

 Designers

 Liz Bigham

 Kate Glad

 Copy Editors

 Miriam Francisco

 Madeline Turner

Photo Editor

Annie Klusendorf

Editor in Chief

Maya Goldman

Managing Editor

Finntan Storer
statement

THE MICHIGAN DAILY | APRIL 3, 2019

ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN KUZEE