Buying HappinessThe idea of Canada as a consumer society was largely absent before 1890 but familiar by the mid 1960s. This change required more than rising incomes and greater impulses to buy; it involved the creation of new concepts. Buying Happiness explores the ways public thinkers represented, conceptualized, and institutionalized new ideas about consumption and consumer behaviours. Topics include the states creation of the first cost of living index in 191415,