Will Davies became interested in economic psychology as the world fell apart in 2008. The basic governing ideology of the American - and world - economy faced a serious challenge. Alan Greenspan even said he had "made a mistake" in assuming that financial institutions pursuing their own self-interest was enough to keep the plates spinning.

But Davies, a British academic, was stunned to see some blame the supposed psychological faults of bankers instead of political or regulatory oversight. The crop of psychological studies of the finance industry led him to examine the crossroads of the sciences and economics, an intersection that hosts thinkers ranging from utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham to Elton Mayo and his human relations movement to the positive psychologists of today.

The resultant book, published this year, is The Happiness Industry, a deep dive into how our society's obsession with metrics is meshing with our deep concern over feeling better about ourselves. The result is a sort of kinder, gentler capitalism: apps meant to ensure your psychological health, "chief happiness officers" at large corporations, and Facebook experiments to alter the emotions of users. Another round of Soma for the bar!

"The reason there is such interest in happiness right now is that it's a way of pursuing particular kinds of elite strategies," Davies says. "The book is not against happiness, but it's trying to show that happiness has become something that is increasingly subjected to forms of measurement, surveillance - not in the terms of the government is spying on you - but in corporate strategies and social-media algorithms."