HAPPINESS AS OUR COMMON GOOD
After some additional analyses of the causes of this deterioration, like broken families, divorce rates, children born outside marriage, television, increased crime and decreased trust, Layard poses the question whether people need a common good. His answer is positive; people care about their reputation and about social approval by others, they have a sense of fairness and want to make commitments. As a consequence they need a common good or goal as a single overarching principle; to solve problems between existing rules, to review rules and to help in situations where rules provide little guidance.
In the first chapter of Part 2 he argues that the greatest happiness should be this single common goal. According to Layard happiness is different from all other goals like health, autonomy, accomplishment and freedom, because it is self-evidently good and not just instrumental in achieving alternative goals. As the American Declaration says: it is a "self-evident" objective. Layard rejects several objections against his utilitarian choice for happiness as the ultimate goal. A well-known objection against the happiness principle is that one innocent person could be killed to set an example for others, with positive effects on average happiness. Layard rejects this objection on the grounds that a happy society has to live by rules, sparing the innocent, telling the truth, keeping promises and so on.