RALEIGH – Bobby McFerrin was incorrect. If you want to be happy, you first have to worry.

Whether it’s the prospect of a happy household or a happy society, what you have to worry about is building the foundations of innovation, growth, and progress. That means deferring immediate gratification to save and invest for a better future. That also allowing people the freedom to make such decisions for themselves.

I’ve written a number of times in the past about the emerging field of happiness studies. While still in its infancy as an academic pursuit, the field has nevertheless produced an interesting array of measurements, studies, and speculations. The theme I find most compelling is that, according to the best available data, human happiness is significantly related to human freedom.

In countries where people enjoy significant freedom to do as they wish, keep the fruits of their labor, and select their own political leaders, people tend to be happier. In countries where some or all of these freedoms are lacking, people tend to be unhappier.

The latest evidence comes from a study by Daniel Gropper, Robert Lawson, and Jere T. Thorne, Jr. Published in the Spring/Summer edition of The Cato Journal, the study employs three measures of subjective well being to explore the potential link between happiness and two economic measures: gross domestic product per capita and the Economic Freedom of the World index.

Not surprisingly, the researchers found a positive relationship between each of the economic variables and the measures of happiness for the more than 100 countries they studied. More surprisingly, the researchers found that, unlike previous research, their study did not find a diminishing return from economic development. Even after a country developed into the middle tier of economies and beyond, its citizens still exhibit greater levels of happiness for every increase in GDP per capita.

GDP growth and economic freedom also rise in tandem, of course. Countries with relatively open, relatively lightly taxed and regulated economies grow faster than countries with more restrictive trade and fiscal policies. But economic freedom is associated with increases in human happiness even when GDP per capita is held constant.

In sum, wrote the researchers, “around the world, freer people generally are wealthier, live longer, and are happier.”

At the John Locke Foundation, the connection between human freedom and human happiness has long been our operating assumption. So we welcome the continued accumulation of empirical data and historical experience to illustrate the connection.

JLF has spent more than two decades building a firmer foundation for freedom in North Carolina. We devote most of our resources to four building projects:

• We build a case for freedom. Our Research Division studies state and local issues such as education, health care, fiscal policy, and transportation. Our policy analysts then communicate their findings to policymakers and other audiences through reports, studies, blog posts, media interviews, and public appearances.

• We build a base of public knowledge for freedom. Without an informed, active citizenry, advances in freedom can neither be accomplished nor defended. Our Communications Division promotes public knowledge of North Carolina politics and policy issues by producing a news outlet, Carolina Journal, in print, radio, video, and online formats, as well as supplying news stories, opinion columns, and guests for other North Carolina print, broadcast, and online media.

• We build relationships for freedom. While producing high-quality reports, publications, broadcasts, and websites are necessary to influence public policy, they are insufficient. There is no substitute for face-to-face communication, and for building networks of people who share common interests and aspirations. Our Outreach Division hosts an event somewhere in North Carolina at least once a week, while operating other outreach programs aimed at state and local policymakers and candidates, educators and education reformers, emerging leaders, and citizen activists.

• We build capacity for freedom. Our Administrative Division is tasked with the important responsibility of attracting the financial and human capital necessary to advance the cause of freedom in North Carolina. We employ top-notch public-policy professionals from around the country, and raise more than $3 million a year from thousands of donors across the state.

It would sure make me happy if you’d consider joining us.

Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.