If the state spends more on public goods, are the people who live there happier? Yes, in short.
Political scientist Patrick Flavin at Baylor University studies 40 years of public data and happiness surveys, and they match pretty well: more spending by the state on public goods like parks and roads parallels people reporting satisfaction in those states.
But there's a lot of ground to explore in what does and does not constitute a public good. We make that exploration with Dr. Flavin.