Scott Alexander critically examines conflicting studies on Amish happiness levels, finding the research too unreliable to draw firm conclusions.
Longer summary
Scott Alexander examines conflicting claims about Amish happiness levels compared to modern societies and billionaires. He finds significant inconsistencies and methodological issues in the various studies, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. The post highlights problems with data interpretation, study replication, and potential confounding factors. Scott emphasizes the unreliability of these early happiness studies, which predate improvements brought by the replication crisis in social science. He concludes that the research is not rigorous enough to make definitive statements about Amish happiness levels relative to other groups.
Shorter summary