Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Research Hub

Data-driven insight into how liberty, equality, and opportunity shape American economic life.

A tidy desktop scene in photographic realism featuring an open hardcover book titled "Pursuit of Happiness" embossed in gold on a deep teal cover, resting beside a thin tablet displaying a colorful bar graph made of tiny illustrated smiley faces instead of bars. The surfaces sit on a warm oak desk with visible grain, and a small, vibrant potted plant with round leaves adds a pop of green. Soft afternoon light filters from the left, creating pleasing highlights on the tablet glass and gentle shadows under the book’s edges. Shot from a three-quarter overhead angle with moderate depth of field, the background fades into soft blur, including faintly visible sticky notes with doodled icons of a key, a heart, and a coin. The mood is playful yet studious, perfect for a nonprofit analyzing well-being data.

Insights

A clean, modern chalkboard-style infographic drawn on a black slate panel resting on a pale birch desk, all rendered in crisp photographic detail. On the slate, three large illustrated words—"Life," "Liberty," and "Happiness"—are written in bright pastel chalk, each surrounded by playful icons: a tiny beating heart, an open padlock, and an upward-swooping arrow with a smiling star at the tip. Colored chalk sticks lie casually nearby, some leaving faint dust on the surface. Diffused overcast light from above eliminates harsh shadows, creating an inviting, classroom-like mood. Captured from a slightly elevated angle with a balanced composition, the scene feels approachable and educational, perfect for exploring economic ideas in a fun, accessible way.

Browse annotated excerpts, inequality maps, and labor charts that trace how the Declaration’s ideals of liberty and happiness have been interpreted, expanded, and contested across U.S. economic history.

A colorful game-board-style map of an imaginary town printed on thick, slightly textured cardstock and laid flat on a white tabletop, captured in high-resolution photographic style. The board is divided into playful zones labeled "Life," "Liberty," and "Happiness," each illustrated with tiny buildings: a bright community library, an open public square with a stylized fountain, and a cheerful park with oversized flowers and a rainbow slide. Small wooden tokens shaped like houses, books, and little suns are placed on various spaces. Overhead softbox lighting creates even illumination with barely-there shadows, enhancing the printed colors without glare. Photographed from a top-down bird’s-eye view, the composition is clean and organized, suggesting a fun, approachable way to navigate complex socio-economic questions rooted in the Declaration of Independence.

Follow interactive timelines linking founding-era petitions, constitutional amendments, New Deal reforms, and contemporary movements for racial, gender, and worker justice to evolving understandings of economic rights and responsibilities.

About

Our Socio-Economic Lens

Explore methods

We combine archival research, quantitative data, and community voices to examine how the Declaration’s promises of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness translate into material conditions. Using interdisciplinary frameworks from law, economics, and history, we map disparities, test policy ideas, and highlight tradeoffs so advocates and lawmakers can ground today’s debates in rigorous, historically informed evidence.