James Ahiakpor raises some interesting points regarding absolute versus relative poverty. He points to the relatively egalitarian distribution of income in Sri Lanka. Sen reported that in India 1/3 of rural population is malnourished. Sri Lanka with comparable income has no such problem of hunger. Yet Sri Lanka's food subsidies came to no more than 5% of GNP. possibly because of food subsidies, Sri Lanka has higher life expectancy than S. Korea. Inequality, by itself, has important negative consequences. That idea is the central theme of my book. For example, is a substantial literature on health that suggests that inequality has significant effects on health of the rich as well as the poor. James is correct that probably many people from Sri Lanka would gladly come to the United States. Even so, happiness studies, for what they're worth, suggests that the richer countries do not experience more happiness. Michael Perelman