Happy people are creative, innovative, and productive people (Diener Reference Diener2012; Isen Reference Isen, Lewis, Haviland-Jones and Feldman-Barrett2008). People are generally happier when their basic material needs are met (Diener Reference Diener2012). We suggest that increases in affluence and living conditions experienced directly prior to the Industrial Revolution produced increased subjective well-being and happiness in pre-industrial England. This increase in subjective well-being and happiness, in turn, produced greater creativity that ultimately led to the explosion of innovation and economic growth experienced during the Industrial Revolution.

There are, of course, no data to tell us the degree of subjective well-being and happiness at the time of the Industrial Revolution. Nevertheless, we can make some educated guesses based on current theory and research on subjective well-being and happiness. This research shows that increased living standards, not unlike those experienced directly prior to the Industrial Revolution, reliably produce increased subjective well-being and happiness, both when looking across nations and when looking within nations over time (Diener Reference Diener2000; Sacks et al. Reference Sacks, Stevenson and Wolfers2010). Citizens of richer countries, for example, experience greater subjective well-being and happiness than those of poorer countries. Looking within countries this research reveals that richer citizens are happier than poorer citizens (Sacks et al. Reference Sacks, Stevenson and Wolfers2010). More critically, perhaps, is longitudinal research showing that as living conditions (e.g., economic and income growth) improve within a country, the subjective well-being of its citizens also improves (Sacks et al. Reference Sacks, Stevenson and Wolfers2010; Veenhoven & Vergunst Reference Veenhoven and Vergunst2014). In summary, then, the economic growth and improved living conditions citizens of England experienced prior to the Industrial Revolution documented by Baumard are just those predicted by current research to produce increased subjective well-being and happiness.

Increases in subjective well-being and happiness reliably produce increases in creativity, innovation, and productivity (Isen Reference Isen, Lewis, Haviland-Jones and Feldman-Barrett2008; Lyubomirsky et al. Reference Lyubomirsky, King and Diener2005). Happy people, for example, focus on the big picture (Gasper & Clore Reference Gasper and Clore2002). Happiness leads individuals to form more inclusive categories in which atypical exemplars (e.g., feet) are assigned to the category vehicle (Isen & Daubman Reference Isen and Daubman1984). Individuals who are happy are better able to entertain ideas about how objects might serve different purposes and thus are more successful at solving Duncker's candle problem and creative insight problems (Isen et al. Reference Isen, Daubman and Nowicki1987). Happiness and higher subjective well-being have both been shown to produce greater productivity at work (Lyubomirsky et al. Reference Lyubomirsky, King and Diener2005). Not only does happiness produce more flexible and creative cognition, but it also produces a greater self-control, optimism, sociality, and trust in others (Lyubomirsky et al. Reference Lyubomirsky, King and Diener2005). And, finally, happiness has been shown to produce a focus on future rewards and benefits (i.e., happiness reduces time discounting; Ifcher & Zarghamee Reference Ifcher and Zarghamee2011).

Additionally, the longevity of the Industrial Revolution can also be partially attributed to increases in happiness and subjective well-being through its impact on children, who would grow up to continue the innovation and economic growth seen during the period. The improved living standards prior to and during the Industrial Revolution resulted in positive childhood experiences and there is research suggesting that happiness facilitates creative play and divergent thinking in children (Russ Reference Russ1999). It has been found that inducing positive affect in eighth grade students improved problem-solving skills (Greene & Noice Reference Greene and Noice1988). Furthermore, longitudinal research has found that creative play in first and second grade children leads to greater divergent thinking over a 4-year period, suggesting that this impact of affect on childhood play is stable over time and predictive of creativity later in life (Russ et al. Reference Russ, Robins and Christiano1999).

In summary, the consequences of happiness and higher subjective well-being almost perfectly overlap with the mix of psychological factors Baumard suggests produced the Industrial Revolution: increased optimism, reduced time discounting, greater self-control, optimism, sociality, trust in others, creativity, and productivity.

We end by emphasizing that we do not doubt that the psychological origins outlined in the target article played a significant role in producing the economic growth observed during the Industrial Revolution. We merely suggest that there may have been important, and overlooked, affective origins of the Industrial Revolution.