economic development and happiness thesis

• Search Menu
• Browse content in Arts and Humanities
• Browse content in Archaeology
• Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology
• Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
• Archaeology by Region
• Archaeology of Religion
• Archaeology of Trade and Exchange
• Biblical Archaeology
• Contemporary and Public Archaeology
• Environmental Archaeology
• Historical Archaeology
• History and Theory of Archaeology
• Industrial Archaeology
• Landscape Archaeology
• Mortuary Archaeology
• Prehistoric Archaeology
• Underwater Archaeology
• Urban Archaeology
• Zooarchaeology
• Browse content in Architecture
• Architectural Structure and Design
• History of Architecture
• Residential and Domestic Buildings
• Theory of Architecture
• Browse content in Art
• Art Subjects and Themes
• History of Art
• Industrial and Commercial Art
• Theory of Art
• Biographical Studies
• Byzantine Studies
• Browse content in Classical Studies
• Classical History
• Classical Philosophy
• Classical Mythology
• Classical Literature
• Classical Reception
• Classical Art and Architecture
• Classical Oratory and Rhetoric
• Greek and Roman Papyrology
• Greek and Roman Epigraphy
• Greek and Roman Law
• Greek and Roman Archaeology
• Late Antiquity
• Religion in the Ancient World
• Digital Humanities
• Browse content in History
• Colonialism and Imperialism
• Diplomatic History
• Environmental History
• Genealogy, Heraldry, Names, and Honours
• Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
• Historical Geography
• History by Period
• History of Emotions
• History of Agriculture
• History of Education
• History of Gender and Sexuality
• Industrial History
• Intellectual History
• International History
• Labour History
• Legal and Constitutional History
• Local and Family History
• Maritime History
• Military History
• National Liberation and Post-Colonialism
• Oral History
• Political History
• Public History
• Regional and National History
• Revolutions and Rebellions
• Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
• Social and Cultural History
• Theory, Methods, and Historiography
• Urban History
• World History
• Browse content in Language Teaching and Learning
• Language Learning (Specific Skills)
• Language Teaching Theory and Methods
• Browse content in Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics
• Cognitive Linguistics
• Computational Linguistics
• Forensic Linguistics
• Grammar, Syntax and Morphology
• Historical and Diachronic Linguistics
• History of English
• Language Evolution
• Language Reference
• Language Acquisition
• Language Variation
• Language Families
• Lexicography
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Linguistic Theories
• Linguistic Typology
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Translation and Interpretation
• Writing Systems
• Browse content in Literature
• Bibliography
• Children's Literature Studies
• Literary Studies (Romanticism)
• Literary Studies (American)
• Literary Studies (Asian)
• Literary Studies (European)
• Literary Studies (Eco-criticism)
• Literary Studies (Modernism)
• Literary Studies - World
• Literary Studies (1500 to 1800)
• Literary Studies (19th Century)
• Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
• Literary Studies (African American Literature)
• Literary Studies (British and Irish)
• Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)
• Literary Studies (Fiction, Novelists, and Prose Writers)
• Literary Studies (Gender Studies)
• Literary Studies (Graphic Novels)
• Literary Studies (History of the Book)
• Literary Studies (Plays and Playwrights)
• Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
• Literary Studies (Postcolonial Literature)
• Literary Studies (Queer Studies)
• Literary Studies (Science Fiction)
• Literary Studies (Travel Literature)
• Literary Studies (War Literature)
• Literary Studies (Women's Writing)
• Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
• Mythology and Folklore
• Shakespeare Studies and Criticism
• Browse content in Media Studies
• Browse content in Music
• Applied Music
• Dance and Music
• Ethics in Music
• Ethnomusicology
• Gender and Sexuality in Music
• Medicine and Music
• Music Cultures
• Music and Media
• Music and Religion
• Music and Culture
• Music Education and Pedagogy
• Music Theory and Analysis
• Musical Scores, Lyrics, and Libretti
• Musical Structures, Styles, and Techniques
• Musicology and Music History
• Performance Practice and Studies
• Race and Ethnicity in Music
• Sound Studies
• Browse content in Performing Arts
• Browse content in Philosophy
• Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• Epistemology
• Feminist Philosophy
• History of Western Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Moral Philosophy
• Non-Western Philosophy
• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Perception
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Action
• Philosophy of Law
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
• Practical Ethics
• Social and Political Philosophy
• Browse content in Religion
• Biblical Studies
• Christianity
• East Asian Religions
• History of Religion
• Judaism and Jewish Studies
• Qumran Studies
• Religion and Education
• Religion and Health
• Religion and Politics
• Religion and Science
• Religion and Law
• Religion and Art, Literature, and Music
• Religious Studies
• Browse content in Society and Culture
• Cookery, Food, and Drink
• Cultural Studies
• Customs and Traditions
• Ethical Issues and Debates
• Hobbies, Games, Arts and Crafts
• Lifestyle, Home, and Garden
• Natural world, Country Life, and Pets
• Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge
• Sports and Outdoor Recreation
• Technology and Society
• Travel and Holiday
• Visual Culture
• Browse content in Law
• Arbitration
• Browse content in Company and Commercial Law
• Commercial Law
• Company Law
• Browse content in Comparative Law
• Systems of Law
• Competition Law
• Browse content in Constitutional and Administrative Law
• Government Powers
• Judicial Review
• Local Government Law
• Military and Defence Law
• Parliamentary and Legislative Practice
• Construction Law
• Contract Law
• Browse content in Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Criminal Evidence Law
• Sentencing and Punishment
• Employment and Labour Law
• Environment and Energy Law
• Browse content in Financial Law
• Banking Law
• Insolvency Law
• History of Law
• Human Rights and Immigration
• Intellectual Property Law
• Browse content in International Law
• Private International Law and Conflict of Laws
• Public International Law
• IT and Communications Law
• Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law
• Law and Politics
• Law and Society
• Browse content in Legal System and Practice
• Courts and Procedure
• Legal Skills and Practice
• Primary Sources of Law
• Regulation of Legal Profession
• Medical and Healthcare Law
• Browse content in Policing
• Criminal Investigation and Detection
• Police and Security Services
• Police Procedure and Law
• Police Regional Planning
• Browse content in Property Law
• Personal Property Law
• Study and Revision
• Terrorism and National Security Law
• Browse content in Trusts Law
• Wills and Probate or Succession
• Browse content in Medicine and Health
• Browse content in Allied Health Professions
• Arts Therapies
• Clinical Science
• Dietetics and Nutrition
• Occupational Therapy
• Operating Department Practice
• Physiotherapy
• Radiography
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Browse content in Anaesthetics
• General Anaesthesia
• Neuroanaesthesia
• Clinical Neuroscience
• Browse content in Clinical Medicine
• Acute Medicine
• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Clinical Genetics
• Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology and Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Genito-urinary Medicine
• Geriatric Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Toxicology
• Medical Oncology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Medicine
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology
• Rheumatology
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports and Exercise Medicine
• Community Medical Services
• Critical Care
• Emergency Medicine
• Forensic Medicine
• Haematology
• History of Medicine
• Browse content in Medical Skills
• Clinical Skills
• Communication Skills
• Nursing Skills
• Surgical Skills
• Browse content in Medical Dentistry
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Paediatric Dentistry
• Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics
• Surgical Dentistry
• Medical Ethics
• Medical Statistics and Methodology
• Browse content in Neurology
• Clinical Neurophysiology
• Neuropathology
• Nursing Studies
• Browse content in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Gynaecology
• Occupational Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Browse content in Paediatrics
• Neonatology
• Browse content in Pathology
• Chemical Pathology
• Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics
• Histopathology
• Medical Microbiology and Virology
• Patient Education and Information
• Browse content in Pharmacology
• Psychopharmacology
• Browse content in Popular Health
• Caring for Others
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Self-help and Personal Development
• Browse content in Preclinical Medicine
• Cell Biology
• Molecular Biology and Genetics
• Reproduction, Growth and Development
• Primary Care
• Professional Development in Medicine
• Browse content in Psychiatry
• Addiction Medicine
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Learning Disabilities
• Old Age Psychiatry
• Psychotherapy
• Browse content in Public Health and Epidemiology
• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Browse content in Radiology
• Clinical Radiology
• Interventional Radiology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiation Oncology
• Reproductive Medicine
• Browse content in Surgery
• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Gastro-intestinal and Colorectal Surgery
• General Surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Paediatric Surgery
• Peri-operative Care
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Surgical Oncology
• Transplant Surgery
• Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
• Vascular Surgery
• Browse content in Science and Mathematics
• Browse content in Biological Sciences
• Aquatic Biology
• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Developmental Biology
• Ecology and Conservation
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Microbiology
• Molecular and Cell Biology
• Natural History
• Plant Sciences and Forestry
• Research Methods in Life Sciences
• Structural Biology
• Systems Biology
• Zoology and Animal Sciences
• Browse content in Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Computational Chemistry
• Crystallography
• Environmental Chemistry
• Industrial Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials Chemistry
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Mineralogy and Gems
• Organic Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Polymer Chemistry
• Study and Communication Skills in Chemistry
• Theoretical Chemistry
• Browse content in Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Architecture and Logic Design
• Game Studies
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Mathematical Theory of Computation
• Programming Languages
• Software Engineering
• Systems Analysis and Design
• Virtual Reality
• Browse content in Computing
• Business Applications
• Computer Security
• Computer Games
• Computer Networking and Communications
• Digital Lifestyle
• Graphical and Digital Media Applications
• Operating Systems
• Browse content in Earth Sciences and Geography
• Atmospheric Sciences
• Environmental Geography
• Geology and the Lithosphere
• Maps and Map-making
• Meteorology and Climatology
• Oceanography and Hydrology
• Palaeontology
• Physical Geography and Topography
• Regional Geography
• Soil Science
• Urban Geography
• Browse content in Engineering and Technology
• Agriculture and Farming
• Biological Engineering
• Civil Engineering, Surveying, and Building
• Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Energy Technology
• Engineering (General)
• Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology
• History of Engineering and Technology
• Mechanical Engineering and Materials
• Technology of Industrial Chemistry
• Transport Technology and Trades
• Browse content in Environmental Science
• Applied Ecology (Environmental Science)
• Conservation of the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Environmental Sustainability
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Environmental Science)
• Management of Land and Natural Resources (Environmental Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environmental Science)
• Nuclear Issues (Environmental Science)
• Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Environmental Science)
• History of Science and Technology
• Browse content in Materials Science
• Ceramics and Glasses
• Composite Materials
• Metals, Alloying, and Corrosion
• Nanotechnology
• Browse content in Mathematics
• Applied Mathematics
• Biomathematics and Statistics
• History of Mathematics
• Mathematical Education
• Mathematical Finance
• Mathematical Analysis
• Numerical and Computational Mathematics
• Probability and Statistics
• Pure Mathematics
• Browse content in Neuroscience
• Cognition and Behavioural Neuroscience
• Development of the Nervous System
• Disorders of the Nervous System
• History of Neuroscience
• Invertebrate Neurobiology
• Molecular and Cellular Systems
• Neuroendocrinology and Autonomic Nervous System
• Neuroscientific Techniques
• Sensory and Motor Systems
• Browse content in Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Biological and Medical Physics
• Classical Mechanics
• Computational Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Electromagnetism, Optics, and Acoustics
• History of Physics
• Mathematical and Statistical Physics
• Measurement Science
• Nuclear Physics
• Particles and Fields
• Plasma Physics
• Quantum Physics
• Relativity and Gravitation
• Semiconductor and Mesoscopic Physics
• Browse content in Psychology
• Affective Sciences
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Criminal and Forensic Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Health Psychology
• History and Systems in Psychology
• Music Psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Organizational Psychology
• Psychological Assessment and Testing
• Psychology of Human-Technology Interaction
• Psychology Professional Development and Training
• Research Methods in Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Browse content in Social Sciences
• Browse content in Anthropology
• Anthropology of Religion
• Human Evolution
• Medical Anthropology
• Physical Anthropology
• Regional Anthropology
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Theory and Practice of Anthropology
• Browse content in Business and Management
• Business Ethics
• Business Strategy
• Business History
• Business and Technology
• Business and Government
• Business and the Environment
• Comparative Management
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Entrepreneurship
• Health Management
• Human Resource Management
• Industrial and Employment Relations
• Industry Studies
• Information and Communication Technologies
• International Business
• Knowledge Management
• Management and Management Techniques
• Operations Management
• Organizational Theory and Behaviour
• Pensions and Pension Management
• Public and Nonprofit Management
• Strategic Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Browse content in Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice
• Criminology
• Forms of Crime
• International and Comparative Criminology
• Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
• Development Studies
• Browse content in Economics
• Agricultural, Environmental, and Natural Resource Economics
• Asian Economics
• Behavioural Finance
• Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
• Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
• Economic History
• Economic Systems
• Economic Methodology
• Economic Development and Growth
• Financial Markets
• Financial Institutions and Services
• General Economics and Teaching
• Health, Education, and Welfare
• History of Economic Thought
• International Economics
• Labour and Demographic Economics
• Law and Economics
• Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
• Microeconomics
• Public Economics
• Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
• Welfare Economics
• Browse content in Education
• Adult Education and Continuous Learning
• Care and Counselling of Students
• Early Childhood and Elementary Education
• Educational Equipment and Technology
• Educational Strategies and Policy
• Higher and Further Education
• Organization and Management of Education
• Philosophy and Theory of Education
• Schools Studies
• Secondary Education
• Teaching of a Specific Subject
• Teaching of Specific Groups and Special Educational Needs
• Teaching Skills and Techniques
• Browse content in Environment
• Applied Ecology (Social Science)
• Climate Change
• Conservation of the Environment (Social Science)
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Social Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environment)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Social Science)
• Browse content in Human Geography
• Cultural Geography
• Economic Geography
• Political Geography
• Browse content in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Communication Studies
• Museums, Libraries, and Information Sciences
• Browse content in Politics
• African Politics
• Asian Politics
• Chinese Politics
• Comparative Politics
• Conflict Politics
• Elections and Electoral Studies
• Environmental Politics
• European Union
• Foreign Policy
• Gender and Politics
• Human Rights and Politics
• Indian Politics
• International Relations
• International Organization (Politics)
• International Political Economy
• Irish Politics
• Latin American Politics
• Middle Eastern Politics
• Political Behaviour
• Political Economy
• Political Institutions
• Political Methodology
• Political Communication
• Political Philosophy
• Political Sociology
• Political Theory
• Politics and Law
• Public Policy
• Public Administration
• Quantitative Political Methodology
• Regional Political Studies
• Russian Politics
• Security Studies
• State and Local Government
• UK Politics
• US Politics
• Browse content in Regional and Area Studies
• African Studies
• Asian Studies
• East Asian Studies
• Japanese Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Middle Eastern Studies
• Native American Studies
• Scottish Studies
• Browse content in Research and Information
• Research Methods
• Browse content in Social Work
• Addictions and Substance Misuse
• Adoption and Fostering
• Care of the Elderly
• Child and Adolescent Social Work
• Couple and Family Social Work
• Developmental and Physical Disabilities Social Work
• Direct Practice and Clinical Social Work
• Emergency Services
• Human Behaviour and the Social Environment
• International and Global Issues in Social Work
• Mental and Behavioural Health
• Social Justice and Human Rights
• Social Policy and Advocacy
• Social Work and Crime and Justice
• Social Work Macro Practice
• Social Work Practice Settings
• Social Work Research and Evidence-based Practice
• Welfare and Benefit Systems
• Browse content in Sociology
• Childhood Studies
• Community Development
• Comparative and Historical Sociology
• Economic Sociology
• Gender and Sexuality
• Gerontology and Ageing
• Health, Illness, and Medicine
• Marriage and the Family
• Migration Studies
• Occupations, Professions, and Work
• Organizations
• Population and Demography
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Theory
• Social Movements and Social Change
• Social Research and Statistics
• Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
• Sociology of Religion
• Sociology of Education
• Sport and Leisure
• Urban and Rural Studies
• Browse content in Warfare and Defence
• Defence Strategy, Planning, and Research
• Land Forces and Warfare
• Military Administration
• Military Life and Institutions
• Naval Forces and Warfare
• Other Warfare and Defence Issues
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Weapons and Equipment

• < Previous chapter
• Next chapter >

34 Economics and the Study of Individual Happiness

Bruno S. Frey, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Alois Stutzer is Professor of Political Economics and Director of the Center for Research in Economics and Well-Being at the University of Basel, Switzerland.

• Published: 01 August 2013
• Cite Icon Cite
• Permissions Icon Permissions

In recent years, the use of happiness data has been influential within economics. Measures of self-reported happiness or life satisfaction provide economists with a means to proxy the concepts of utility or individual welfare. This provides a number of new insights. For instance, the life satisfaction approach enables policy-makers to capture individuals’ preferences and the benefits obtained from non-market goods and services in a novel way. As a consequence, insights from happiness research can provide a useful input into politico-economic decisions. In time, aggregate happiness indicators may become a relevant macro input into political discourse, whilst happiness research can be applied to comparative institutional analyses of, for example, democracy and federalism.

Within economics a remarkable new development is underway: the theoretical and empirical economic analysis of individual well-being or happiness. 1 This development transcends the borders of standard economics in various ways. The economics of happiness argues that the measurable concepts of happiness or life satisfaction allow us to proxy the theoretical concept of utility in a satisfactory way. This approach provides new insights into how human beings value goods and services and more general social and economic conditions, and suggests new policies that significantly deviate from what has been proposed so far. These developments could even be called “revolutionary” in that they change the way society is looked at from an economics point of view (Frey, 2008 ). Happiness economics has the potential to change economics substantially in the future, both with respect to analysis of economic problems and the policy recommendations intended to solve them. Our argument rests on three pillars: measurement, new insights, and policy consequences.

Measurement

The measurable concept of happiness or life satisfaction allows us to proxy the concepts of utility or individual welfare in a satisfactory way. Utility is a term used in economics to represent the relative satisfaction derived from, or the desirability of pursuing, one course of action rather than another. Oftentimes, it is meant to capture what people obtain from consuming goods and services. Life satisfaction proposes the opposite of something that was considered a revolution in the 1930s, when Sir John Hicks, Lord Lionel Robbins, and others claimed that utility could not and need not be measured. Their approach opened the way to a fruitful application of microeconomics to economic issues, and more recently to issues far beyond economics. 2 But the situation has changed dramatically since the 1930s. Psychologists have taught us how to measure subjective well-being and thus give life to the concept of utility.

The ability to measure happiness allows us to extend economic theory into new areas. For instance, it enables us to analyze biases in decision-making. Standard economic theory equates the utility expected when deciding between alternative actions or consumption bundles (e.g., spending holidays in the Alps or at the sea) with the utility experienced when realizing the plan or consuming the bundle. In contrast, happiness research suggests that individuals make biased decisions when choosing between alternatives (for an introduction to utility misprediction in economics see Stutzer & Frey, 2007 ). As a result of these biases in judgment, they find themselves less satisfied with life than they could be according to their own evaluation. Similarly, individuals’ utility is lower when they are subject to significant self-control problems. They allow themselves to undertake activities (such as eating candy) which appear attractive to them but which turn out to raise their utility only in the short run. The individuals, after the fact, realize that they would have been better off had they resisted the temptation (Stutzer, 2009 ).

Happiness research enables us not only to acknowledge these aspects of human behavior but also to analyze them empirically and therewith to evaluate their importance for explaining human behavior. This is not possible in standard theory based on “revealed preference,” which presumes that observed behavior is the result of a utility-maximizing calculus in which individuals do not make any systematic mistakes.

New Insights

The economic analysis of subjective well-being teaches us how human beings value goods and services, as well as how they value social conditions. This applies, in particular, to the effects of income, unemployment, and other economic factors on well-being. The new insights go beyond economics to include non-material values, such as the value of autonomy, social relations in the family, etc. Moreover, individuals derive utility from processes , not just from outcomes. For instance, they are more satisfied with a court decision if they feel that they have been well treated by the judge, even if the outcome is less favorable for them (Frey, Benz, & Stutzer, 2004 ). It is understood that economic activity is certainly not an end in itself, but only has value insofar as it contributes to human happiness. 3

Policy Consequences

Taking a constitutional perspective, there are two levels at which policy decisions are made: (1) in the current politico-economic process, within a given framework of rules; and (2) at the constitutional level, where the rules of the game as such are determined. Economic happiness research is relevant for both levels. For instance, the life satisfaction approach enables policy-makers to capture individuals’ preferences and individuals’ welfare for public goods in a novel way. As a consequence, insights from happiness research increase political competition in the current politico-economic process. Moreover, aggregate happiness indicators may become a relevant macro input in the political discourse. At the constitutional level, happiness research can be applied to comparative institutional analyses of, for example, democracy and federalism. We argue that it is mistaken to jump to the conclusion that governments should pursue a happiness policy maximizing an aggregate happiness indicator conceived to be a social welfare function.

In the following pages, we will provide a primer on how economists use information about happiness as a new approach to measuring individual welfare. Next we will discuss the relationship between two important economic variables and subjective well-being, i.e., income and unemployment. For income, we emphasize the role of income aspirations in the notion of relative utility. For unemployment, we contrast the views that it occurs as a voluntary or an involuntary act. We then address challenges to the rational consumer hypothesis due to limited will power and utility misprediction that can be studied based on reported welfare judgments.

A Primer on the Economic Analysis of Happiness

The economic study of individual happiness is based on a subjective view of utility, which recognizes that everyone has his or her own ideas about happiness and the good life, and that observed behavior is an incomplete indicator of individual well-being. Fortunately, observed behavior is not the only way to capture individual well-being. Consistent with a sensible tradition in economics to rely on the judgment of the persons directly involved, individuals’ welfare can be captured and analyzed by asking the person how satisfied he is with his life. Since people are reckoned to be good judges of the overall quality of their life, this is a straightforward strategy.

Much happiness research in economics takes reported subjective well-being as a proxy measure for individual welfare. “Subjective well-being” is the scientific term used in psychology for an individual's evaluation of the extent to which he or she experiences positive and negative affect, happiness, or satisfaction with life. 4

There are a number of different measurement techniques available to capture subjective well-being (see also Chapters 10 , 13 , and 14 ). These can be distinguished along two dimensions: cognition, the evaluative or judgmental component of well-being (usually assessed with questions asking about satisfaction with life overall); and affect, the pleasure–pain component of well-being (Diener, 1984 ). With regard to the latter, it is common to distinguish further between positive affect (e.g., happiness, joy) and negative affect (e.g., anger, sadness), treating them as independent. It is also useful to distinguish between measures that attempt to capture a person's level of subjective well-being in general, as opposed to those that focus on the proportion of time spent in one, rather than another, mental state. Because people's satisfaction with their lives tends to be relatively stable from moment to moment, duration measures usually focus on affect (Kahneman & Krueger, 2006 ). A primary example of a duration measure is the U-index, which measures the proportion of time an individual spends in an unpleasant state (Kahneman & Krueger, 2006 ).

The measures may be elicited through a variety of methods, including: (1) global self-reports in surveys, (2) the Experience Sampling Method, which collects information on individuals’ actual experiences in real time in their natural environments, and (3) the Day Reconstruction Method, which asks people to reflect on how satisfied they felt at various times during the day (on the latter two techniques, see Kahneman, Krueger, Schkade, Schwarz, and Stone ( 2004 ) and Stone, Shiffman, and De Vries ( 1999 )).

Provided that self-reported subjective well-being is a valid and empirically adequate measure for human well-being, statistical analyses can be conducted that allow for exploration of the relationship between known determinants such as socioeconomic and sociodemographic characteristics and well-being. 5 This approach has been successfully applied in numerous studies on the correlates of subjective well-being and has given rise to many interesting findings, including the relationship between individual well-being and economic conditions such as income, unemployment, inflation and inequality (for reviews see the references in footnote 1). We discuss some specific results on the relationship between happiness and income as well as unemployment in the following two sections.

Income and Happiness

Persons with higher income have more opportunities to attain whatever they desire: in particular, they can buy more material goods and services. Standard economics therefore takes as self-evident that higher income and consumption levels provide higher well-being. This conclusion also follows from the concept of utility in economics, which is based on the notion that people's utility depends on what they have in absolute terms. Research on subjective well-being allows us to test this notion empirically.

Paradoxical empirical findings

The relationship between income and happiness measured at a particular point in time and place is the subject of a large empirical literature. As a robust and general result, it has been found that richer people, on average, report higher subjective well-being (see Clark, Frijters, & Shields, 2008 for a review). The relationship between income and subjective well-being proves to be statistically (usually highly) significant, even when a large number of other factors are controlled for. This evidence from happiness research seems to confirm the standard economic view.

However, there is a second way to study the relationship between income and happiness, namely to ask whether an increase in income over time raises reported subjective well-being. A striking and curious relationship is observed: people in some industrialized countries do not appear to be becoming happier over time, despite economic growth. This was first observed and documented by Easterlin ( 1974 ), and has been repeatedly found ever since (Blanchflower & Oswald, 2004 ; Easterlin, 1995 , 2001 ; Easterlin & Angelescu, 2009 ). As these two findings on the relationship between income and happiness cannot easily be aligned, they are often referred to as the Easterlin paradox.

The Easterlin paradox has provoked reactions in two directions. One reaction is to challenge the empirical findings. Stevenson and Wolfers ( 2008 ), for instance, argue that some of the data on which the analyses of Easterlin and others rely should be dismissed due to changes in methodology (e.g., in Japan different survey questions have been used to measure subjective well-being in different years). Others document that there are Western countries like Denmark, Germany, and Italy that experienced substantial real per capita income growth as well as a (small) increase in reported satisfaction with life in the 1970s and 80s (Diener et. al. 2000 ). Moreover, the relationships presented between income and happiness over time are often not analyzed ceteris paribus. In other words, it is difficult to examine income and happiness in isolation, and additional factors that also change over time may contribute to observed outcomes. However, for the USA, a negative trend in subjective well-being over time is found even when individual characteristics are controlled for (Blanchflower & Oswald, 2004 ).

Given the current state of empirical data, it is difficult to reject, on statistical grounds, any hypothesis about the relationship or non-relationship between income and subjective well-being over time. Perhaps the safest position is to accept that there is no clear-cut trend, positive or negative, in self-reported subjective well-being over periods of 20–30 years in rich countries. Of course, this is interesting in itself; it indicates that there is more to subjective well-being than just the absolute level of income.

The role of income aspirations

In order to shed light on the apparent paradox highlighted by Easterlin, happiness research in economics has sought to develop a concept of utility that is more psychologically sound. Two processes are emphasized. First, it is noted that whilst additional material goods and services initially provide extra pleasure, this is usually only transitory. Happiness with material things wears off, whereas satisfaction depends on change and disappears with continued consumption (Stutzer & Frey, 2007 ). This process, or mechanism, that reduces the hedonic effects of a constant or repeated stimulus, is called adaptation.

Second, people make social comparisons with relevant others and hence it is not the absolute level of income that matters most, but rather one's position relative to other individuals. Indeed, several economists in the past (e.g., Duesenberry, 1949 ; Veblen, 1899 ) have noted that individuals compare themselves to significant others with respect to income or consumption. Higher income people also have a higher relative income compared to others, and therefore a higher status in society (Frey & Stutzer, 2002a ). Socially comparative or even competitive processes in consumption complement processes of hedonic adaptation.

It is suggested that the two processes make people strive for ever higher aspirations. Together, they can also explain why persons with high income at a given point in time report higher subjective well-being than those with low income. This is the social comparison effect suggesting that individuals derive utility from being superior to others. In contrast, there is no clear statistical relationship between income per capita and average life satisfaction in industrialized countries over time. This is the adaptation effect, which suggests that people get used to a higher income and therefore do not derive any additional utility from it after some time has passed (Frank, 1999 ).

There is now direct empirical evidence for the important role of income aspirations in individual welfare from two empirical studies for Germany and Switzerland (Stutzer, 2004 ; Stutzer & Frey, 2004 ). This is made possible by using two data sets that both include individual data on reported satisfaction with life, as well as income evaluation measures as proxies for people's aspiration levels. 6 It is found that higher income aspirations reduce people's satisfaction with life. In Switzerland and the New German Laender, the negative effect on subjective well-being of an increase in income aspiration level is of a similar absolute magnitude as the positive effect on well-being of an equal increase in income (Stutzer, 2004 ). This suggests that subjective well-being depends largely on the gap between income aspirations and actual income and not on the income level as such. Thus, the higher the ratio between aspired income and actual income, the less satisfied people are with their life, ceteris paribus. This supports the notion of relative income, which describes that individuals do not focus on the absolute income level but rather compare their income to the income of other individuals.

What are the consequences of the research insights relating to relative income? The empirical basis is still too small to be able to draw firm implications for economic theory and economic policy, and caution is required because such implications might be far-reaching. However, it would be interesting to study in greater depth how income aspirations relate to, for instance, redistributive taxation or public policy in general.

Unemployment and Happiness

Standard economics has always considered unemployment a social bad with negative consequences for society. The economic policy proposals made by Keynes and his followers were an effort to overcome this ill and to establish full employment. However, the assessment changed dramatically with the advent of new classical macroeconomics (see e.g., Snowdon & Vane, 2005 ). This school argued that unemployment is largely voluntary: most of those not working just refuse to do so at the prevailing wage rate. In this view, an important reason why the reservation wage is higher than the prevailing wage is that unemployment benefits are too high. People prefer not to work and to cash in these benefits. Happiness research in economics offers a new approach to this debate about the individual and social costs of unemployment.

Unemployment reduces subjective well-being

The basic finding from happiness data is that unemployment reduces the individual well-being of those personally affected. Following their innovative work in Britain, Clark and Oswald ( 1994 , p. 655) summarize this result as follows: “Joblessness depresses well-being more than any other single characteristic including important negative ones such as divorce and separation.” In Germany, Winkelmann and Winkelmann ( 1998 ) found a negative effect of personal unemployment on life satisfaction that would require a sevenfold increase in income to compensate. Importantly, in these two analyses, indirect effects like income losses that may, but need not, accompany personal unemployment are kept constant. Being unemployed therefore has psychological costs over and above those due to potential decrease in material living standards (see Clark, 2003 ; Frey & Stutzer, 2002a , pp. 95–109; Stutzer & Lalive, 2004 ).

High unemployment rates also have non-negligible effects on people who are not personally affected by unemployment. Based on survey data from population samples from European Union member countries between 1975 and 1992, Di Tella et al. ( 2003 ) show that aggregate unemployment decreases average reported life satisfaction even if personal unemployment is taken into account. The question that naturally arises is why even people who are employed feel less satisfied with their lives when unemployment rates increase.

Costs of high unemployment for the employed

The potential reasons that explain why workers’ well-being decreases when unemployment rates increase can be divided into two broad categories (Luechinger et al. 2010 ). First, a high rate of unemployment may have general negative effects on society that affect everyone in a region. Such reasons include not only the direct effects of unemployment on crime and public finances, but also the general increase in income inequality within a society—an increase that may have the effect of triggering workers’ empathy with the unemployed. Moreover, high unemployment rates affect factors specific to people's individual workplaces such as, for instance, changes in working hours and salaries (Frey, 2008 ).

Second, high unemployment also affects anticipated economic distress. For instance, the probability that a worker may himself experience a spell of unemployment in the future increases. A large literature documents the importance of self-reported job security on individuals’ well-being (see e.g., De Witte, 1999 ; Duncan, White, Cheng, & Tomlinson, 1998 ; Green, 2006 ). Moreover, people may also expect salary decreases, reduced promotion opportunities and fewer possibilities to change jobs.

In an empirical study, Luechinger, Meier, and Stutzer ( 2010 ) isolate the negative anticipatory feelings of angst and stress due to economic insecurity. In order to distinguish between general negative externalities of unemployment and changes in economic risks to individuals, workers were studied in two sectors of the economy that differ fundamentally in their exposure to economic shocks—people working in the private sector and those working in the public sector. Public sector employees usually work in organizations that very rarely go bankrupt, and enjoy extended protection from dismissal. Thus, for institutional reasons these workers face a reduced risk of losing their jobs in comparison with workers in the private sector. For Germany, the researchers found that the subjective well-being of people working in the private sector was affected more strongly by general economic shocks than that of people working in the public sector, suggesting that a substantial fraction of the psychological costs brought about by general unemployment is due to increased economic insecurity.

In sum, research on happiness has identified two major aspects of unemployment that are largely neglected in standard economics. The first is that unemployment is not simply an underutilization of resources and not simply a decision between choosing to stay employed (at a low wage) and becoming unemployed (with unemployment benefits). Rather, unemployed individuals experience a loss in psychological well-being that goes beyond the reduction in income involved. The second major difference to standard economics is that the experience of utility losses goes beyond the persons actually unemployed. Persons with a job are also negatively affected by a higher unemployment rate; this is due in part to an increase in economic insecurity.

Happiness Research Challenges the Rational Consumer Hypothesis

Neoclassical economic theory relies on revealed behavior—that is, on the actual choices people make—in order to evaluate the utility generated by the option chosen in a particular decision. This assumes that individuals are perfectly informed about what will bring them how much utility, and that they are perfectly capable of maximizing their utility given the options available to them. Further, this implies that people do not make any systematic mistakes when making decisions and that, if mistakes occur, individuals will correct them in the long run by learning. Scitovsky ( 1976 ) criticized this view as “unscientific” because “it seemed to rule out – as a logical impossibility – any conflict between what man chooses to get and what will best satisfy him” (p. 4).

Research on happiness has given rise to two insightful extensions of neoclassical economics’ traditional emphasis on ex ante (that is, before the event) evaluation and observed decision. First, the standard economic concept of decision utility can be extended by using the concept of subjective well-being to indicate individual welfare judgments (similar to the concept of experienced utility by Kahneman et al. ( 1997 )). This separation of concepts makes it possible to distinguish between the utility gained from experiences and the utility derived from observed behavior. The second extension is closely related to the first. It emphasizes that individuals may not be fully rational when they take decisions. Rather, their rationality may be imperfect with respect to the cognitive processes involved. The crucial question is: How do people fare after they have made decisions? This is particularly relevant if people have limited self-control, i.e., are subject to restricted willpower.

Limited self-control and individual well-being

In standard economics people are considered to have no self-control problems; they are able to make decisions that are concordant with their long-term preferences. Viewed this way, consuming goods and pursuing activities that some people consider addictive, such as smoking cigarettes, taking cocaine or watching TV, are considered a rational act. Contrary to this view, many people judge their own and other people's behavior as irrational in the sense that they think that they would be better off if they behaved differently and cared more for their future well-being.

Based on revealed preference, it is difficult, if not impossible, to discriminate between the view of consumers as rational actors and consumers mispredicting utility or facing self-control problems. However, with a measure of individual well-being, competing theories can be distinguished that make the same predictions concerning individual behavior, but differ in what they put forward as individual utility levels. This kind of test is a powerful tool in challenging theories that proved resistant to a multitude of observed behavior patterns.

The new approach is briefly illustrated for a specific issue, namely cigarette smoking. Other possible illustrations would be TV viewing (Benesch, Frey, & Stutzer, 2010 ; Frey, Benesch, & Stutzer, 2007 ) or obesity (Oswald & Powdthavee, 2007 ; Stutzer, 2009 ).The standard economic model predicts that recent increases in cigarette taxes and tighter restrictions on smoking reduce smoking and make individuals worse off. Smokers could always voluntarily refrain from smoking; the additional restrictions are only perceived as a reduction of the choice set. However, some smokers may have limited willpower to quit smoking. Such persons may welcome smoking restrictions and higher taxes as a kind of self-control mechanism. An approach that incorporates limited willpower into the process of decision-making thus predicts that smoking is reduced while individuals feel better off.

Research on happiness contributes to this debate by directly analyzing the effect of tobacco taxes on people's subjective well-being. Two longitudinal analyses across US and Canadian states used data from the General Social survey to study the effect of changes in state tobacco taxes on the reported happiness of people who were predicted to engage in smoking at the prevailing tax rates (Gruber & Mullainathan, 2005 ). It was found that a cigarette tax of 50 cents (in real terms) significantly raised the likelihood of being happy among those who tend to be smokers. In fact, with this tax they would be just as likely to report being happy as those not predicted to be smokers (i.e., the proportion of smokers in the lowest happiness category would fall by 7.5 percentage points). This result favors models of time-inconsistent smoking behavior, in which people have problems with self-control. Moreover, the result shows that price increases can serve as a self-commitment device by forcing individuals to reduce smoking as this activity has become more expensive.

The misprediction of utility

Standard economics assumes people can successfully predict future utility—that is, how they will feel about future events. In contrast, in many careful experiments and surveys, psychologists have actually studied whether people are successful in forecasting utility (for reviews, see Hsee et al. 2012 ; Kahneman & Thaler, 2006 ; Loewenstein & Schkade, 1999 ; Wilson & Gilbert, 2003 ). While they find that people accurately predict whether an experience will primarily elicit good or bad feelings, people often hold incorrect intuitive theories about the determinants of happiness; that is, they overestimate the impact of specific life events on their experienced well-being with regard to intensity, as well as with regard to duration. For instance, many people predict that a win of their favored soccer team would leave them in a happy mood for days. In fact, every day events take over and determine people's mood such that the joy over the win is short term, if there is elation at all.

The standard economic model of consumer decisions is probably appropriate for most goods and activities and for most situations. It also applies when individuals make random prediction errors. There are, however, situations in which people have to make trade-offs between different activities, goods, or options that differ systematically in the extent to which their future utility can be predicted. If this is the case, systematic economic consequences emerge (Frey & Stutzer, 2008 ). There are options, or attributes of options, that are more salient than others when making a decision, and are thus relatively overvalued. If people choose options according to this evaluation, their experienced utility is lower than what they expected and lower than what they could have experienced had they not mispredicted their utility. Moreover, they consume different goods with different attributes and pursue different activities than in a situation where no option in the choice set would have special salience.

There are four major sources for systematic over- and undervaluation of choice options that can be distinguished: (1) the underestimation of adaptation, 7 (2) distorted memory of past experiences, (3) the rationalization of decisions, and (4) false intuitive theories about the sources of future utility (Frey & Stutzer, 2008 ).

Future research may further explore the tensions people face when they have to trade off material and non-material or social goods and activities. Misprediction of utility might be more likely across these two categories of options. When people face various possible alternatives, material factors get more attention and are overvalued due to the neglect of adaptation, rationalization and memory biases. This would imply consequences with regard to behavior (material goods are over-consumed) and with regard to individual well-being (people are less well off than they would be without mispredicting utility).

The Use of Happiness Research for Public Policy

From a constitutional point of view (Buchanan & Tullock, 1962 ; Mueller, 1996 ), there are two levels at which policy decisions are taken: (1) in the current politico-economic process within given rules; and (2) at the constitutional level, where the rules of the game as such are determined. We briefly inquire how the insights gained from happiness research affect public policy at the two levels.

Happiness research for the current politico-economic process

One of the major contributions of happiness research, directly relevant for public policy, refers to the new instruments that enable individuals’ preferences and welfare to be captured. As a consequence, insights from happiness research increase political competition in the current politico-economic process. There is a demand for happiness research by politicians, public officials, and representatives of special interest groups as they hope to strengthen their position in the competition for votes or in bargaining for government policies. As we will explore in this section, a point of interest is the valuation of public goods and public bads. There are also hopes that a complementary indicator of aggregate happiness might guide policy making more towards citizens’ preferences than indicators of aggregate national income alone. In the following, we discuss happiness research in these two areas.

Valuation of public goods

The provision of public goods (e.g., clean air, security) is a central function of government agencies. More and more often, government agencies are required to provide cost–benefit analyses to back their proposals for government programs. However, the benefits derived from public goods are inherently difficult to measure because they are not exchanged on markets. In reaction to the demand by public agencies and private actors, a wide variety of methods related to stated and revealed preference have been developed for the valuation of public goods (see, e.g., Freeman, 2003 ).

Within happiness research, another promising method is emerging. It is called the Life Satisfaction Approach (LSA) (see Frey, Luechinger, & Stutzer, 2010 ). With reported subjective well-being as a proxy measure for individual welfare, public goods can be directly evaluated in utility terms. The marginal utility of public goods or the disutility of public bads is estimated by correlating the amount of public goods or public bads with individuals’ reported subjective well-being. By measuring the marginal utility of a public good or the marginal disutility of a public bad, as well as the marginal utility of income, the tradeoff ratio between income and the public good can be calculated.

This approach avoids some of the major difficulties inherent in both the stated preference and the revealed preference methods. For instance, the contingent valuation method (Freeman, 2003 )—asking people how much, in principle, they would be willing to pay for some non-market good—often faces the problem of the hypothetical nature of the questions asked and the unfamiliarity of the task. People may, for instance, be asked how much they would be willing to pay to preserve a particular kind of fish in the North Sea. Moreover, one cannot exclude the failure of respondents to consider the effect of their budget constraints and substitutes. Symbolic valuation in the form of attitude expression and superficial answers is likely to result (Kahneman & Knetsch, 1992 ). Similarly, the problem of strategic answers (in order to bias the result in the respondent's preferred direction) can be addressed only to a limited extent. The LSA is not affected by either of these problems. It does not rely on respondents’ ability to consider all relevant consequences of a change in the provision of a public good. It suffices if respondents state their own life satisfaction with some degree of precision. Moreover, there is no reason to expect strategic answering behavior. A more detailed comparison of the LSA with the standard non-market valuation techniques can be found in Kahneman and Sugden ( 2005 ) and Dolan and Metcalfe ( 2008 ).

The LSA has, for example, been used to value air pollution (Luechinger, 2009 ; Welsch, 2006 ), airport noise nuisance (van Praag & Baarsma, 2005 ), terrorism (Frey et al., 2009 ), droughts (Nick et al., 2009), and flood hazards (Luechinger & Raschky, 2009 ). Recent studies applying the LSA have already reached a high standard, and preconditions for its application are better understood and formulated. What has so far been an academically driven development of a new method may soon become an empirical tool that is in demand in the political process.

Aggregate happiness indicators as complements to gross national product

Happiness indicators are increasingly accepted as complements to the long-established measures of national income as a way to infer aggregate welfare within a nation, thus following the lead of the social indicators approach and of the capabilities approach (e.g., Sen, 1999 ). The Human Development Index, e.g., measures social welfare by aggregating per capita income, longevity, and school participation rates, attributing each one equal weight. The capabilities approach inquires to what extent the individuals have actual access to goods and services. The UK and Australia as well as some other countries are committed to producing national measures of well-being. Recently, a specific module was added to the European Social Survey generating comparative information on a wide range of aspects of individual well-being (Huppert et al., 2009 ). Aggregate happiness indicators have several interesting qualities in comparison to traditional measures of economic activity. First, measures of happiness include non-material aspects of human well-being such as the influence of social relations, autonomy, and self-determination. These are excluded, or most insufficiently included, in the traditional national accounts. Second, measures of happiness consider outcome aspects of components already included in gross national product (GNP) via input measures. This holds in particular with respect to the vast area of government activity (measured in GNP by the costs of material and of labor). Third, measures of happiness look at subjectively evaluated outcomes in line with the basic methodological approach of economics. In contrast, the capabilities approach and the United Nations Human Development Index look at objectively observable functioning (Sen, 1999 ).

In sum, aggregate happiness indicators provide new and complementary information about preference satisfaction that could become a relevant input into political discourse. So far, robust effects of unemployment and inflation on the popularity and re-election support of governments have been documented (for a review, see Lewis-Beck & Paldam, 2000 ). This research is based on the idea that voters hold governments responsible for the state of the economy and thereby also fuel political competition providing incentives to governments for a sound economic policy. An aggregate happiness indicator might intensify this competition as politicians get incentives to justify their actions in terms of a broader and better indicator of individual welfare. However, not too much should be expected. Aggregate happiness indicators are relatively cheap to assemble. While this allows replicating surveys that seem rigged, it also allows parties with special interests to easily come up with yet another measure serving those interests but confusing voters. A group active in the construction industry may, for instance, propose a social welfare indicator which attributes great weight to the quality of housing. As a result, such an aggregate happiness index indicates a rise in social welfare when more houses are built even if other aspects of welfare are treated lightly.

Happiness research for the constitutional level of policy

Happiness research can also provide valuable insights on the constitutional level of public policy. However, this requires that research questions be chosen that relate institutions to reported subjective well-being in a comparative manner. This provides the public with access to information about the institutions that might best allow them to pursue their idea of the good life. Some insights have already been produced, which can be brought into the political discussion process. They include policy issues such as, for example, the role of direct democratic decision making in citizens’ well-being (Frey & Stutzer, 2000 ), the effect of mandatory retirement and mandatory schooling on happiness (Charles, 2004 ; Oreopoulos, 2007 ), the consequences of social work norms and birth control rights on women's well-being (Lalive & Stutzer, 2010 ; Pezzini, 2005 ) or the relation between working time regulation and people's subjective well-being (Alesina, Glaeser, & Sacerdote, 2005 ). However, to our mind, happiness research has so far only skimmed the surface of what promises to become a challenging area of comparative institutional research.

Concluding Remarks

This chapter has presented only a selection of possible applications and recent advances in the economic study of individual happiness. Many more have been undertaken. No attempt has been made to be comprehensive. Rather, the intention is to convey to the reader that happiness data offers a useful proxy measure for individual welfare. It therewith points to new ways of tackling old questions, and opens the possibility of exploring issues that have previously been seen as difficult, or even impossible, to address empirically. The examples provided cover several fields of study, ranging from income aspirations and unemployment to limited willpower and utility misprediction, suggesting that the new approach may be useful for many different issues in economic research. Time will show whether the potential of economic research on subjective well-being is enough to make it part of a new core of economics.

Alesina, A., Glaeser, E., & Sacerdote, B. ( 2005 ). Work and leisure in the United States and Europe: Why so different? In M. Gertler & K. Rogoff (Eds.), NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2005 (pp. 1–100). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Benesch, C., Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. ( 2010 ). TV channels, self control and happiness.   The BE Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, 10 , Article 86.

Blanchflower, D. G., & Oswald, A. J. ( 2004 ). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA.   Journal of Public Economics, 88(7–8), 1359–1386. 10.1016/S0047-2727(02)00168-8

Buchanan, J. M., & Tullock, G. ( 1962 ). The calculus of consent. Logical foundations of constitutional democracy . Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Carroll, N., Frijters, P., & Shields, M. A. ( 2009 ). Quantifying the costs of drought: New evidence from life satisfaction data.   Journal of Population Economics, 22(2), 445–461. 10.1007/s00148-007-0174-3

Charles, K. K. ( 2004 ). Is retirement depressing? Labor force inactivity and psychological well-being in later life. In Polachek, Solomon W. (Ed.), Accounting for worker well-being. Research in labor economics vol. 23 (pp. 269–299). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Elsevier. 10.1016/S0147-9121(04)23008-4

Google Scholar

Google Preview

Clark, A. E. ( 2003 ). Unemployment as a social norm: Psychological evidence from panel data. Journal of Labor Economics, 21(2), 323–51. 10.1086/345560

Clark, A. E., & Oswald, A. J. ( 1994 ). Unhappiness and unemployment.   Economic Journal, 104 (424), 648–659. 10.2307/2234639

Clark, A., Frijters, P., & Shields, M. ( 2008 ). Relative income, happiness and utility: An explanation for the Easterlin paradox and other puzzles. Journal of Economic Literature, 46(1), 95–144. 10.1257/jel.46.1.95

De Witte, H. ( 1999 ). Job insecurity and psychological well-being: Review of the literature and exploration of some unresolved issues. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8(2), 155–77. 10.1080/135943299398302

Di Tella, R., & MacCulloch, R. ( 2006 ). Some uses of happiness data in economics. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(1), 25–46. 10.1257/089533006776526111

Di Tella, R., MacCulloch, R. J., & Oswald, A. J. ( 2003 ). The macroeconomics of happiness.   Review of Economics and Statistics, 85 (4), 809–27. 10.1162/003465303772815745

Diener, E. ( 1984 ). Subjective well-being.   Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542–575. 10.1037/0033-2909.95.3.542

Diener, E., & Oishi, S. ( 2000 ). Money and happiness: Income and subjective well-being across nations. In E. Diener & E. M. Suh (Eds.), Culture and subjective well-being (pp. 185–218). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. ( 1999 ). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress.   Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–302. 10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276

Dolan, P., & Metcalfe, R. ( 2008 ). Comparing willingness-to-pay and subjective well-being in the context of non-market goods. Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No. 0890 . London, UK: LSE.

Duesenberry, J. S. ( 1949 ). Income, savings and the theory of consumer behavior . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Duncan, G., White, M., Cheng, Y., & Tomlinson, M. ( 1998 ). Restructuring the employment relationship . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Easterlin, R. A. ( 1974 ). Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In P. A. David & Reder, M. W. (Eds.), Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in honour of Moses Abramowitz (pp. 89–125). New York, NY: Academic Press.

Easterlin, R. A. ( 1995 ). Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all? Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 27(1), 35–48. 10.1016/0167-2681(95)00003-B

Easterlin, R. A. ( 2001 ). Income and happiness: Towards a unified theory. Economic Journal, 111(473), 465–484. 10.1111/1468-0297.00646

Easterlin, R. A. (Ed.). ( 2002 ). Happiness in Economics. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Easterlin, R A., & Angelescu, L. ( 2009 ). Modern economic growth and quality of life: Cross sectional and time series evidence . Mimeo, CA: University of Southern California.

Frank, R. ( 1999 ). Luxury fever: Why money fails to satisfy in an era of excess. New York, NY: Free Press.

Freeman, A. M., III. ( 2003 ). The measurement of environmental and resource values: Theory and methods . Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.

Frey, B. S. ( 2008 ). Happiness: A revolution in economics . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. ( 2000 ). Happiness, economy and institutions. Economic Journal, 110(466), 918–938. 10.1111/1468-0297.00570

Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. ( 2002 a). Happiness and economics: How the economy and institutions affect well-being . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. ( 2002 b). What can economists learn from happiness research? Journal of Economic Literature, 40(2), 402–435. 10.1257/002205102320161320

Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. ( 2008 ). Economic consequences of mispredicting utility . WWZ Discussion Paper No. 01/08, University of Basel.

Frey, B. S., Benesch, C., & Stutzer, A. ( 2007 ). Does watching TV make us happy?   Journal of Economic Psychology, 28(3), 283–313. 10.1016/j.joep.2007.02.001

Frey, B. S., Benz, M., & Stutzer, A. ( 2004 ). Introducing procedural utility: Not only what, but also how matters.   Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economic, 160 (3), 377–401. 10.1628/0932456041960560

Frey, B. S., Luechinger, S., & Stutzer, A. ( 2009 ). The life satisfaction approach to the value of public goods: The case of terrorism. Public Choice, 138(3–4), 317–345. 10.1007/s11127-008-9361-3

Frey, B. S., Luechinger, S., & Stutzer, A. ( 2010 ). The life satisfaction approach to environmental valuation.   Annual Review of Resource Economics, 2 , 139–160. 10.1146/annurev.resource.012809.103926

Green, F. ( 2006 ). Demanding work. The paradox of job quality in the affluent economy . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Gruber, J. H., & Mullainathan, S. ( 2005 ). Do cigarette taxes make smokers happier?   Advances in Economic Analysis and Policy, 5 (1), 1–43.

Hsee, C. K., Rottenstreich, Y., & Stutzer, A. ( 2012 ). Suboptimal choices and the need for experienced individual well-being in economic analysis. Forthcoming in the International Journal of Happiness and Development.

Huppert, F. A., Marks, N., Clark, A., Siegrist, J., Stutzer, A., Vittersø J., & Wahrendorf, M. ( 2009 ). Measuring well-being across Europe: Description of the ESS well-being module and preliminary findings. Social Indicators Research, 91(3), 301–315. 10.1007/s11205-008-9346-0

Kahneman, D., & Knetsch, J. L. ( 1992 ). Valuing public goods: The purchase of moral satisfaction. Journal of Economics and Management, 22(1), 57–70. 10.1016/0095-0696(92)90019-S

Kahneman, D., & Krueger, A. B. ( 2006 ). Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being.   Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20 (1), 3–24. 10.1257/089533006776526030

Kahneman, D., & Sugden, R. ( 2005 ). Experienced utility as a standard of policy evaluation. Environmental and Resource Economics, 32(1), 161–81. 10.1007/s10640-005-6032-4

Kahneman, D., & Thaler, R. H. ( 2006 ). Anomalies: Utility maximization and experienced utility. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(1), 221–234. 10.1257/089533006776526076

Kahneman, D., Wakker, P. P., & Sarin, R. ( 1997 ). Back to Bentham? Explorations of experienced utility.   Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(2), 375–405. 10.1162/003355397555235

Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (Eds.). ( 1999 ). Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D. A., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. A. ( 2004 ). A survey method for characterizing daily life experience: The day reconstruction method. Science, 306(5702), 1776–1780. 10.1126/science.1103572

Lalive, R., & Stutzer, A. ( 2010 ). Approval of equal rights and gender differences in well-being. Journal of Population Economics, 23(3), 933–962. 10.1007/s00148-009-0257-4

Layard, R. ( 2005 ). Happiness: Lessons from a new science . New York, NY: Penguin.

Lewis-Beck, M. S., & Paldam, M. ( 2000 ). Economic voting: An introduction.   Electoral Studies, 19(2–3), 113–121. 10.1016/S0261-3794(99)00042-6

Loewenstein, G., & Schkade, D. A. ( 1999 ). Wouldn't it be nice? Predicting future feelings. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener and N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundation of hedonic psychology (pp. 85–105). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Loewenstein, G., O’Donoghue, T., & Rabin, M. ( 2003 ). Projection bias in predicting future utility.   Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4), 1209–1248. 10.1162/003355303322552784

Luechinger, S. ( 2009 ). Valuing air quality using the life satisfaction approach. The Economic Journal, 119(536), 482–515. 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02241.x

Luechinger, S., & Raschky, P. A. ( 2009 ). Valuing flood disasters using the life satisfaction approach.   Journal of Public Economics, 93 (3–4), 620–633. 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2008.10.003

Luechinger, S., Meier, S., & Stutzer, A. ( 2010 ). Why does unemployment hurt the employed? Evidence from the life satisfaction gap between the public and the private sector. Journal of Human Resources, 45, 998–1045. 10.1353/jhr.2010.0024

Mueller, D. C. ( 1996 ). Constitutional Democracy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Oreopoulos, P. ( 2007 ). Do dropouts drop out too soon? Wealth, health, and happiness from compulsory schooling. Journal of Public Economics, 91(11–12), 2213–2229. 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2007.02.002

Oswald, A. J., & Powdthavee, N. ( 2007 ). Obesity, unhappiness, and the challenge of affluence: Theory and evidence. Economic Journal, 117(521): 441–454.

Pezzini, S. ( 2005 ). The effect of women's rights on women's welfare: Evidence from a natural experiment. Economic Journal, 115(502), C208–C227.

Scitovsky, T. ( 1976 ). The joyless economy: An inquiry into human satisfaction and consumer dissatisfaction . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Sen, A. K. ( 1999 ). Development as freedom . New York, NY: Alfred Knopf.

Snowdon, B., & Vane, H. R. ( 2005 ). Modern macroeconomics: Its origin, development and current state . Cheltenham, UK: Elgar.

Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. ( 2008 ). Economic growth and subjective well-being: Reassessing the Easterlin paradox. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity , Spring.

Stone, A. A., Shiffman, S. S., & DeVries, M. W. ( 1999 ). Ecological momentary assessment. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 26–39). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Stutzer, A. ( 2004 ). The role of income aspirations in individual happiness. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 54(1), 89–109. 10.1016/j.jebo.2003.04.003

Stutzer, A. ( 2009 ). Happiness when temptation overwhelms willpower. In A. K. Dutt & B. Radcliff (Eds.), Happiness, economics, and politics: Toward a multi-disciplinary approach (pp. 97–126). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Stutzer, A., & Frey, B. S. ( 2004 ). Reported subjective well-being: a challenge for economic theory and economic policy. Schmollers Jahrbuch: Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften 124 (2), 191–231.

Stutzer, A., & Frey, B. S. ( 2007 ). What happiness research can tell us about self-control problems and utility misprediction. In Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer (Eds.), Economics and psychology. A promising new cross-disciplinary field (pp. 169–195). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Stutzer, A., & Frey, B. S. ( 2010 ). Recent advances in the economics of individual subjective well-being. Social Research 77(2), 679–714.

Stutzer, A., & Lalive, R. ( 2004 ). The role of social work norms in job searching and subjective well-being. Journal of the European Economic Association, 2 (4), 696–719. 10.1162/1542476041423331

van Praag, B. M. S., & Baarsma, B. E. ( 2005 ). Using happiness surveys to value intangibles: The case of airport noise. Economic Journal, 115(500), 224–246. 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2004.00967.x

van Praag, B. M. S., & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A. ( 2004 ). Happiness quantified—A satisfaction calculus approach . Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Veblen, T. ( 1899 ). The theory of leisure class . New York, NY: Modern Library.

Welsch, H. ( 2006 ). Environment and happiness: Valuation of air pollution using life satisfaction data.   Ecological Economics, 58(4), 801–813. 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.09.006

Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. ( 2003 ). Affective forecasting. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 35, pp. 345–411). New York, NY: Elsevier.

Winkelmann, R., & Winkelmann, L. ( 1998 ). Why are the unemployed so unhappy? Evidence from panel data. Economica, 65(257), 1–15. 10.1111/1468-0335.00111

There are several surveys of the state of economic research on subjective well-being available in the form of journal articles (e.g., Di Tella & MacCulloch, 2006 ; Dolan et al., 2008 ; Frey & Stutzer, 2002b ; Stutzer and Frey 2010), books (e.g., Frey, 2008 ; Frey & Stutzer, 2002a ; Layard, 2005 ; van Praag & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, 2004 ) and readers (Bruni & Porta, 2007; Easterlin, 2002 ).

Areas of non-market economics include, e.g., the economics of the arts, sports economics, the economics of terrorism, etc.

There is, of course, the fundamental issue of whether happiness is the ultimate goal to be pursued. Other valid goals, for instance, may be loyalty, responsibility, self-esteem, freedom, or personal development.

The empirical study of subjective well-being used to be the province of hedonic psychology (for reviews, see Diener, Suh, Lucas & Smith, 1999 ; Kahneman, Diener & Schwarz, 1999 ).

Technically, subjective well-being is modeled in a microeconometric function W it = α + βX it + ε it . In this model, W it is the true well-being of individual i at time t. X = x 1 , x 2 , ..., x n are known variables, like sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, or environmental, social, institutional, and economic conditions for individual i at time t. Multiple regression analyses are conducted to estimate the model parameters and, as the dependent variable is measured on a ranking scale, normally ordered logit or probit estimation techniques are applied.

The income evaluation question in the German Socio-Economic Panel reads as follows: “Whether you feel an income is good or not so good depends on your personal life circumstances and expectations. In your case – the net household income _____ DM is just sufficient income.” The reported amount is taken as a proxy for people's income aspirations.

The aspect of underestimated adaptation to new situations has been neatly introduced in theoretical models of intertemporal decision-making (Loewenstein et al. 2003 ). Based on their model of projection bias, various phenomena can be modeled, like the misguided purchase of durable goods or consumption profiles with too much consumption early on in life. Misprediction of utility thus provides an alternative to seemingly irrational saving behavior that is usually addressed in a framework of self-control problems.

• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Institutional account management
• Rights and permissions
• Get help with access
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Economic Performance, Happiness, and Sustainable Development in OECD Countries

• Original Research
• Published: 12 November 2023
• Volume 171 , pages 159–188, ( 2024 )

Cite this article

• Tai-Yu Lin 1 ,
• Yung-ho Chiu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9702-2892 2 ,
• Xin Hung Xie 1 &
• Tzu-Han Chang 2  

394 Accesses

Explore all metrics

Economic progress has pushed human beings to pay greater attention on their happiness, and various indicators to measure it have been created with the OECD’s Better Life Index one of the most famous. This research uses the entropy method to divide the original 20 items of the Better Life Index into four categories (economic, environmental, social, and well-being). The Sustainable Development Goals promoted by the United Nations in recent years also include the same four aspects. Therefore, this study evaluates the efficiency performance of the 34 OECD member countries under these factors from 2013 to 2017 and analyzes their residents’ happiness and sustainable development. The findings are as follows. (1) The overall efficiency of Australia, Belgium, Iceland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Switzerland, and United States is good, and their people’s happiness is high. (2) Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, Slovak Republic, and Turkey exhibit poor economic efficiency. (3) Chile, Greece, Israel, Mexico, and Turkey present poor environmental efficiency. (4) Mexico has poor social index efficiency. (4) The well-being efficiency of Estonia, Hungary, and Turkey is poor. (5) Lastly, 17 out of 34 countries have good sustainable development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA) Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

National progress, sustainability and higher goals: the case of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness

Research on the impact of economic development and environmental security on human well-being in typical cities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Measuring Equitable and Sustainable Well-Being in Italy

Data availability.

Not applicable.

Banker, R. D., Charnes, A., & Cooper, W. W. (1984). Some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiencies in data envelopment analysis. Management Science, 30 (9), 1078.

Article   Google Scholar  

Bernini, C., Guizzardi, A., & Angelini, G. (2018). DEA-like model and common weights approach for the construction of a subjective community well-being indicator. Social Indicators Research, 114 , 405–424.

Bernoulli, Daniel, (1738) [1954], Specimen Theoriae Novae de Mensura Sortis, Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae , 5 , 175–192. English translation, 1954, “Exposition of a New Theory on the Measurement of Risk”, Econometrica, 22(1): 23–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/1909829 .

Bonasia, M., Simone, E., D'Uva a, M., Napolitano, O. (2022). Environmental protection and happiness: A long-run relationship in Europe. Environmental Impact Assessment Review , 93 , 106704.

Cheng, Y., Zhang, J., Wei, W., & Zhao, B. (2021). Effects of urban parks on residents’ expressed happiness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Landscape and Urban Planning, 212 , 104118.

Chiu, Y. H., Huang, K. Y., Chang, T. H., & Lin, T. Y. (2021). Efficiency assessment of coal mine use and land restoration: Considering climate change and income differences. Resources Policy, 73 , 102130.

Chung, Y. H., Färe, R., & Grosskopf, S. (1997). Productivity and undesirable outputs: A directional distance function approach. Journal of Environmental Management, 51 , 229–240.

Cui, Y., Feng, P., Jin, J., & Liu, L. (2018). Water resources carrying capacity evaluation and diagnosis based on set pair analysis and improved the entropy weight method. Entropy, 20 , 359.

Cui, X., Zhao, T., & Wang, J. (2021). Allocation of carbon emission quotas in China’s provincial power sector based on entropy method and ZSG-DEA. Journal of Cleaner Production, 284 , 124683.

Diener, E., Scollon, C. K. N., Oishi, S., Dzokoto, V., Suh, E. M. (2000). Positivity and the construction of life satisfaction judgments: Global happiness is not the sum of its parts. Journal of Happiness Studies , 1 , 159–176.

Easterlin, R. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence (PDF). In P. A. David & M. W. Reder (Eds.), Nations and households in economic growth essays in Honor of Moses Abramovitz. Academic Press, Inc.

Google Scholar  

Farrell, M. J. (1957). The measurement of productive efficiency. Journal of the Royal Statistical Social: Series A (general), 120 (3), 253–281.

Ferraz, D., Moralles, H., Campoli, J., Oliveira, F., & Rebelatto, D. (2018). Economic complexity and human development: DEA performance measurement in Asia and Latin America. Gest. Prod. São Carlos, 25 , 839–853.

Han, W., & Hart, J. (2022). Precarious parental employment, economic hardship, and parenting and child happiness amidst a pandemic. Children and Youth Services, 133 , 106343.

Hicks, J. (1946). Value and capital (2nd ed.). Clarendon Press.

Hu, J.L., Wang, S.C. (2006). Total-factor energy efficiency of regions in China. Energy Policy , 34 , 3206–3217.

Jin, Z., Zeng, S., Cao, C., Ma, H., & Sun, D. (2020). Impacts of pollution abatement projects on happiness: An exploratory study in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 274 , 122869.

Li, Y., Zhang, Q., Wang, L., & Liang, L. (2020). Regional environmental efficiency in China: An empirical analysis based on entropy weight method and non-parametric models. Journal of Cleaner Production, 276 , 124147.

Li, Y., Lin, T. Y., Chiu, Y. H., Cen, H., & Lin, Y. N. (2021). Efficiency assessment of coal energy and non-coal energy under bound dynamic DDF DEA. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28 , 20093–20110.

Lozano, M., & Solé-Auró, A. (2021). Happiness and life expectancy by main occupational position among older workers: Who will live longer and happy? SSM - Population Health, 13 , 100735.

Ma, Y., & Chen, D. (2020). Openness, rural-urban inequality, and happiness in China. Economic Systems, 44 , 100834.

McNally, M. (1980). Consumption, utility, and social process. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 2 , 381–391.

Mignamissi, D., & Kuete, Y. (2021). Resource rents and happiness on a global perspective: The resource curse revisited. Resources Policy, 71 , 101994.

Morris, R., Kettlewell, N., & Glozier, R. (2021). The increasing cost of happiness. SSM - Population Health, 16 , 100949.

Mouratidis, K., & Yiannakou, A. (2022). What makes cities livable? Determinants of neighborhood satisfaction and neighborhood happiness in different contexts. Land Use Policy, 112 , 105855.

Nemati, S., & Maralani, F. (2016). The relationship between life satisfaction and happiness: The mediating role of resiliency. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 8 , 194–201.

Nguyen, B., & Le, V. (2021). The relationship between global wealth and happiness: An analytical study of returns and volatility spillovers. Borsa Istanbul Review, 21 , S80–S89.

Nissi, E., Sarra, A. (2016). A measure of well-being across the italian urban areas: An integrated dea-entropy approach. Social Indicators Research , 136 , 1183–1209.

Sanduijav, C., Ferreira, S., Filipski, M., & Hashida, Y. (2021). Air pollution and happiness: Evidence from the coldest capital in the world. Ecological Economics, 187 , 107085.

Scoffham, S., & Barnes, J. (2011). Happiness matters: Towards a pedagogy of happiness and well-being. The Curriculum Journal, 22 , 535–548.

Susniene, D., & Jurkauskas, A. (2009). The concepts of quality of life and happiness: Correlation and differences. Inzinerine Ekonomika-Engineering Economics, 3 , 58–66.

Terziev, V. (2019). Social efficiency as a measure of social activities. SSRN Electronic Journal , 5 , 656–662.

Tobgye, S., Kinley, & Dorji, S. (2022). Digital transformation, happiness, and well-being. Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict , 4 , 209-216.

Veenhoven, R. (1984). Conditions of happiness . Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6432-7

Book   Google Scholar  

Veenhoven, R. (2000). The four qualities of life ordering concepts and measures of the good life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1 , 1–39.

Wang, J., & Xie, Y. (2015). Feeling good about the iron rice bowl: Economic sector and happiness in post-reform urban China. Social Science Research, 53 , 203–217.

Wang, J., Wan, Y., Sun, C., & Chen, X. (2021a). Does mandatory air quality information disclosure raise happiness? Evidence from China. Energy Economics, 94 , 105094.

Wang, J., Wang, C., Li, S., & Luo, Z. (2021b). Measurement of relative well-being poverty and its impact on happiness in China: Evidence from CGSS. China Economic Review, 69 , 101687.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Business Administration, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Road, Tainan City, 701, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Tai-Yu Lin & Xin Hung Xie

Department of Economics, Soochow University, 56, Kueiyang St., Sec. 1, Taipei, 10048, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Yung-ho Chiu & Tzu-Han Chang

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yung-ho Chiu .

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

Informed consent, consent to participate, consent to publish, additional information, publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Lin, TY., Chiu, Yh., Xie, X.H. et al. Economic Performance, Happiness, and Sustainable Development in OECD Countries. Soc Indic Res 171 , 159–188 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-023-03253-z

Download citation

Accepted : 25 October 2023

Published : 12 November 2023

Issue Date : January 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-023-03253-z

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• OECD better life index
• Life satisfaction
• Data envelopment analysis
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN HAPPINESS

Human happiness is based on the overall development of an economy, which is also supported by world happiness index which includes gross domestic product per capital, life expectancy and social support and Freedom. Happiness is considered a proper measure of social progress and goal of public policy. The concept of happiness and well-being are very likely to help guide progress towards sustainable development. If we talk about economic development, it includes overall development of an economy i. e. growth in National income, health facility, education facility and government policy etc. India ranks 117 out of 158 nations on global happiness index. The other countries in top five are Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada. By Press trust of India, United published on April 24, 2015. It is a big thing to study, that why there is a big difference among countries. Many LDCs (Lower developed countries) face the problems to decrease the gap among different income groups. The cause of this problem is lack of resources which fulfils the basic need. The study focuses on all facts which affect Indian Economical development, and human happiness. INTRODUCTION If we talk what makes people happy in life? This is a crucial question that has the potential to shake up economic development of an economy. If a person enjoys all the facilities provided by the government and he says that he is happy in his life the thing is that human happiness depends upon the gross domestic product of an economy, life expectancy, social support and freedom. It also considers a proper measure of social pro gress and goal of public policy, and all conditions that make a person happy. Economic development refers to the process whereby the people of the country or region come to utilize the resources available to bring about a sustained increase in per capita production of goods and services; it also includes improvement in health facilities, education facilities, and also increases in National income. There are two terms one is economic growth and the second economic development where Economic growth is a quantitative concept which includes increase in national income, per capita income, while economic development is a qualitative concept which includes o ver all development of people of a country. If we talk about the relation blow economic development and human happiness, we can say that human happiness is totally based on economic development because the terms of economic development and human happiness are same.

Related Papers

International Research Journal Commerce arts science

GNH is a much richer objective than GDP or economic growth. In GNH, material well-being is important but it is also important to enjoy sufficient well-being in things like community, culture, governance, knowledge and wisdom, health, spirituality and psychological welfare, a balanced use of time, and harmony with the environment.Over the last decades, increasing concerns have been raised about the inadequacy of indicators of economic performance, such as GDP figures, as measures of social and economic well-being. As noted by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, “The time is ripe for our measurement system to shift emphasis from measuring economic production to measuring people’s well-being. And measures of well-being should be put in a context of sustainability... emphasizing well-being is important because there appears to be an increasing gap between the information contained in aggregate GDP data and what counts for common people’s well-being.” However, the importance of measuring well-being and happiness to inform national policy goals has been questioned, as these concepts have been often seen as individual pursuits based on subjective criteria, rather than as matters of national policy. There are also several concerns with measuring happiness and well-being, such as the awkwardness of making interpersonal comparisons, or the problems of adaptation, in that people may get used to being deprived and report average levels of happiness despite their deprivation. So in this paper we will discuss an overview of gross national happiness vs. Gross domestic product.

Out of ten richest people in the world four or five may be Indian, but the irony still remains that there is a marginal farmer in the interiors of Maharashtra , who is struggling to feed his six children , the youngest of whom is a son with five sisters whose marriage the farmer cannot afford. Try telling the farmer that the economy is heading towards the handsome double digit growth, hardly consolation for his children who go to bed with empty stomach!! Layman reason for such irony is lack of inclusion in growth and development. Mahatma Gandhi once said that “ true happiness of a society can be realized only by making the person standing at the lowest rung happy”. Similarly, inclusiveness is the bridge to link representative democracy into participative democracy which is most sought after dream of Makers of Modern India. In order to make inclusiveness an integral part of the values that guide our polity and economy, India has embarked upon a right based approach to social entitlements. A number of measures such as social sector schemes , Right To Food, Right To Education, Right To Information, MGNREGA etc. have had a positive impact on promoting social and economic inclusiveness as well as empowering the people. However, more than 25 crore people still live under poverty in India. We are quite low in terms of Human Development Index which reflects the quality of life of a nation. Instances of caste oppression, exploitation of the tribals and dalits, and social exclusion are not uncommon. We have come a long way. We have to go a long way. Inclusiveness is the future. Power to the people is the future.

The United Nations Organization facilitated meaningful discussions and deliberations across the globe on the subject of human rights protection. It emphasized that educators have a responsibility to ensure to provide meaningful and constructive education which contributes to the promotion of equity, peace and the universal realization of human rights. The people must be given child rights education in media institutions which should be strategically planned for the long term using participatory and interactive communication strategies. The role of media in the human rights protection has been widely investigated by the scholars over a period of time. In particular, the child rights protection has become a challenging task of our times since child rights are violated in one way or the other mainly due to lack of political will and indifferent attitude of the stakeholders in the world. The media institutions have a social responsibility of sensitizing the policy makers, administrators, teachers, parents and other stakeholders in regard to the means and methods of child rights protection which has several dimensions. The educational institutions can also organize child rights awareness programmes through seminars, conferences, debates and discussions. Self – learning materials such as booklets, house journals, graphic aids, flashcards, flip charts, slides, transparencies and video films can be used to provide child rights education in the society. The mass media should be utilized to the fullest extent for creating awareness among the masses on various aspects of child rights protection.

Tourism is an integral part of Indian culture and tradition. It plays an important role in the development of industry. Tourism in the fastest growing industry in the country with great potential for its further expansion and diversification. Tourism is an economic activity involving billion of dollars exchanged each month. The basic aim is to change the behaviour towards foreign tourist. Tourism industry plays a crucial part in the economic development of the country. This paper discuss how India is emerging as popular destination in the world. Tourism has several dimension as economic, among the complex of interaction and their consequences that occur before, during and after a tourist trip. There are also psychological, sociological, ecological and political travel impact. It also examine the impact of India " s economic growth, role of tourism sector in India " s GDP. There are recent many events that have taken place in India as IPL Cricket matches, Commonwealth game, Visit of President Obama of USA have also helped the tourism industry. India established in the global market and also a rich source in tourism for the establishment of brand.

Gender based human society has been evolved of which the women folk boar the brunt of subjugation. The problem of such discrimination has differed in nature from society to society. In the developing countries, particularly in Asia, various socio-cultural, religious, political, legal and economic factors determine the status of women. These are further coupled with factors like family structure, socialization practices, gender role, inheritance pattern, cultural image of gender, etc. thus, the Empowerment of women is a necessary condition for nation " s economic development and social upliftment.The word women empowerment was first announced in 2001 in India. Women's empowerment is the process in which women individually and collectively become active, knowledgeable and goal oriented actors who take/or support initiatives to overcoming gender inequalities. United Nations (2001) defines empowerment as the processes by which women take control and ownership of their lives through expansion of their choices. Rapid progress in SHGs and Bank linkage model has now turned into an empowerment movement among women in the country. It has enabled the members of SHGs to improve their socioeconomic status. It also improves self confidence among womens of our society. Self-help groups (SHGs) play today a major role in poverty alleviation in rural India especially for the womens. A growing number of poor people (mostly women) in various parts of India are members of SHGs and actively engage in savings and credit (S/C), as well as in other activities (income generation, natural resources management, literacy, child care and nutrition, etc.). The SHG system has proven to be very relevant and effective in offering women the possibility to break gradually away from exploitation and isolation. Self Help Group (SHG) movement has emerged as the world " s largest and most successful network of community based organizations (CBOs). It is predominantly a women " s movement. West District of Sikkim is one of the four district of Sikkim with an area of 1,166 sq km (16%) has a rectangular shape with North-South elongation having just 136435 population which consist of 66074 female making the sex ratio of 941 (Census of India 2011). Female Literacy rate of the district is 68.48% which is less than the state average of 72.87%. The main objective of the present study is to get an insight about the empowerment of women of the study area through Self Help Group. There are total of 624 SHGs in Geyzing district. Only those

Minorities have been a controversial issue throughout human's history. The word ―Minority‖ means a group comprising less than half of the population and differing from others, especially the predominant section, in race, religion, traditions and culture, language, etc. A special Subcommittee on the Protection of Minority Rights appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 1946 defined the ‗minority' as those ―non-dominant groups in a population which possess a wish to preserve stable ethnic, religious and linguistic traditions or characteristics markedly different from those of the rest of the population. Recently, 90 Minority Concentration Districts (MCDs) have been identified throughout the countries which are relatively backward and falling behind the national average in terms of socioeconomic and basic amenities indicators. North Sikkim is considered as the Buddhist majority district with 55.08% Buddhist population. As far as the education in this district is concerned, the average number of primary schools per village is 0.76 which is very poor implying a large number of villages do not have even a single school. The performance of the district in terms of secondary schools is very poor i.e. 0.30 secondary and higher secondary schools per village. (Minority Concentration District Project North District, Sikkim). This paper mainly focuses on the educational level and other basic amenities like health, drinking water facilities, housing, infrastructure, and economic conditions including occupation, livelihood pattern etc. in the MCDs of North Sikkim and its comparison with the state and the national average. The findings will be shown by using various statistical techniques such as average, statistical diagrams etc. Quality of life will be considered taking various indicators such as basic amenities, health and other social and economic attributes.

International Research Journal Commerce arts science , Akshara Awasthi

Education is a critical tool for developing a modern economy, a just society and a vibrant polity. It provides skills and competencies for economic well-being and social mobility. It strengthens democracy by imparting to citizens the tools needed to fully participate in the governance process. It also acts as an integrative force in society, imparting values that foster social cohesion and national identity. A well-educated population, equipped with the relevant knowledge, attitudes and skills is essential for economic and social development of a country. But economic prosperity of a country doesn't necessarily imply that social development of the country is going to take place. In this research paper, we are trying to analyse the impact of GDP growth on various measures of education and social development

Rapid growth of population is one of the most significant problems that modern world faces today, though Malthus warned of it in 1798. The consequences of this problem have not remained confined to economic sphere but extended equally to the political and social aspects of life. Worldwide interest in the problems emerging from rapid population growth has been taken by two major considerations: an increasing concern about the relation between population growth and available resources and growing awareness that unrestricted population growth tends to impose a strong constraint on the standard of living and even survival of mankind. To quote Gunnar Myrdal " no other factor-nor even that of peace or war – is so tremendously fatal for the long time destinies of democracies as the factor of population ". 1 Population as a human problem appears in various forms in different parts of the world depending on the size of population, density, state of industrialization, availability of resources, distribution of community resources and several other factors in various cultures. But, looking at it " s nature and dimensions with a view of taking action, it stands as a matter of equal concern everywhere. Infact, the problemof population explosion is alarming almost everywhere in the less-developed parts of the world. Due to this problem, most of these countries are faced with the crucial problems of living standards, social, economical and educational concern. Inspite of the efforts by many nations to control their population, it has been steadily going up. Whatever little progress is made by these countries is almost negated by the growing population. Interest in such questions is widespread but only interest is not enough. This serious problem cannot be answered by merely counting up the number of births and deaths in successive years and different countries but we have to take concrete steps and have to share joint responsibility in order to control the unprecedented growth of population. In context of the above, during the last few decadesscholars belonging to various disciplines all over the world have devoted much time and energy in investigating the various aspects of population problem, in finding its impact on human welfare and in projecting it " s implications for human survival on this planet. A large number of surveys and research studies have been conducted on the subject in different parts of the world. National governments and international agencies are showing great concern over the problem of population explosion and with their help national and international conferences have been frequently organized. All this is done to work out a strategy to prevent the impending crisis. The answer of the population problem lies in

The objective of this paper is to research the influence of socio-economic status on the personality of students. There are number of problems that are faced by students. Some rather many of them are directly or indirectly related to their socio- economic status and personality. According to Indian Education Commission (1964-66) “ The destiny of India is shaped in her class rooms “ and in order to change the destiny of the nation there is a great need to identify and nurture the personality of students. A class room is composed of students belonging to different subcultures and socio-economic status background. The knowledge of the influence of socio- economic status on personality of students is essential for teachers .The present research is delimited with the sample of 200 students of District Kapurthala. To measure the personality of students Eysenck‟s Maudsley Personality Inventory

Social exclusion is a complex and multi-dimension process. It involves the lack or denial of resources, rights, goods and services and the inability to participate in the normal relationship and activities available to the majority of people in a society, whether in economic, social, cultural or political arenas. It affects both the quality of life of individual and the equity and cohesion of society as a whole. This, in turn, reduces opportunities to lead a successful life and further increase the risk of poverty. Without effective education, health, social, tax benefit and employment system, the risk of poverty is passed from one generation to the next. This causes poverty to persist and hence more inequality which can lead to long term loss of economic productivity from whole group of society and hamper inclusive and sustainable economic growth. People at risk at poverty or social exclusion. " Show the number of people affected by at least one of three forms of poverty – Monetary poverty, material deprivation or low work intensity. People can suffer from more than one dimension of poverty at a time. Poverty and social exclusion are the two sides of the one coin. The issue of concern is both low income and the other factors relating to the serve and chronic disadvantage, and that these are closely connected. Its overall scope is the same whether the word poverty used in the wide and narrow sense. The causes for exclusion can vary from country to country in different times. The exclusion is practiced word wide mostly on the identity of genders, caste, religion, color, nationality and other.

RELATED PAPERS

International Research Journal of Commerce, Arts and Science

Raja Mannar Badur

International Research Journal Commerce arts science , Gulzar Rehman

Sudhaveni Naresh

Interal Res journa Managt Sci Tech

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Happiness: the real purpose of economic development?

Professorial Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Disclosure statement

John Wiseman attended the Conference on Happiness and Economic Development as a guest of the Centre for Bhutan Studies, Thimphu, Bhutan

University of Melbourne provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

View all partners

In recent weeks, while global financial markets threatened to implode, looters rampaged through the streets of London , and the British Prime Minister David Cameron reflected darkly on the dangers of a “broken society”, Bhutan’s Prime Minister, Jigme Y. Thinley hosted a landmark international conference on Happiness and Economic Development .

The gathering of eminent scholars was co-hosted by Professor Jeffrey Sachs , head of the Colombia University Earth Institute and senior adviser to UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon.

Participants included influential economists, philosophers and politicians such as Princeton’s Professor Peter Singer, Lord Richard Layard from the London School of Economics and Digvijaya Singh, General Secretary, Congress Party of India.

UN resolution on happiness and economic development

The springboard for the conference was the recent passage by the UN General Assembly of the Bhutanese sponsored resolution calling for happiness and wellbeing to become a central goal of global social and economic development policies.

The conference began with an overview of the path breaking work being undertaken in Bhutan to promote and measure “Gross National Happiness” (GNH), defined as “a harmonious balance between material wellbeing and the spiritual, emotional and cultural needs of the society.”

The nine domains used to measure GNH in Bhutan include psychological well-being; time use; community vitality; culture diversity; environmental diversity and good governance, as well as the more traditional measures of living standards, health and education.

Happiness, economic development and poverty

The most striking message from the conference was the conclusion that the core goal of economic development should indeed be to maximise the happiness and wellbeing of current and future generations.

While material wealth is clearly an essential precondition for poverty reduction, there is mounting empirical evidence that economic growth alone is an insufficient foundation for building a good society in which all citizens have the opportunities and capabilities to live fulfilling lives of dignity, creativity – and happiness.

There was also strong support for the view that the achievement of this goal will require a heightened awareness of the interdependence between human beings, other species and our shared environmental heritage.

A renewed commitment to valuing and promoting human happiness and wellbeing is crucial both as a way of staying focused on a more, balanced, equitable approach to human development and as a necessary foundation for action to address the escalating ecological, economic and social challenges of climate change.

Conference delegates were also clear that the promotion of happiness and wellbeing is not an alternative to eradicating poverty and swiftly reducing inequalities within and between nations.

It is therefore vital to ensure that the inclusion of subjective happiness measures in global frameworks such as the Millenium Development Goals does not dilute the accountability of governments for delivering on core commitments to meet basic material needs.

A growing international movement to rethink GDP

As the 2009 Sarkozy Report on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress , authored by Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and Jan-Paul Fitoussi noted: “the time is ripe for our measurement system to shift emphasis from measuring economic production to measuring people’s wellbeing.”

At a global level the Millenium Development Goals , the Human Development Index and the OECD Better Life Index provide valuable examples of the role which carefully considered happiness and wellbeing indicators can play as tools for engaging citizens and policy makers in informed reflection and debate about social, economic and ecological goals and priorities.

There are also many inspiring and creative national and local approaches to understanding and measuring wellbeing – including Australian initiatives such as Community Indicators Victoria and the ABS work on Measuring Australia’s Progress .

More than a slogan

For the promotion of happiness and wellbeing to be more than a slogan, happiness and wellbeing goals and indicators need to inform and drive policy making and resource allocation.

Citizens and communities need to see tangible achievements as well as fine words.

This will require concerted programs of public and media education as well as action to assist policy makers make best use of broader conceptual frameworks and improved data sets.

Questions as well as answers

Like all good conferences, this event led to as many questions as answers.

For instance, how do we avoid the very real risk of concepts like “happiness” and “wellbeing” being trivialised, co-opted or assumed to refer to a narrow individualstic agenda of unconstrained accumulation and consumption?

How do we build shared global agreements about happiness and wellbeing goals, domains and indicators - while respecting differences in culture and language?

And what needs be done to ensure the development of the development of happiness and wellbeing indicators is informed by broad public engagement and does not remain solely the province of technical experts, economists and statisticians?

Finally, perhaps most importantly, how can this most timely conference and this growing movement help us navigate an ethical pathway to a just and sustainable, safe climate future?

Towards a new global debate about the purpose of economics

The outcomes of the conference will inform future UN discussions on the implementation of the General Assembly resolution on the core goals of economic and future priorities for the Millenium Development Goals.

More broadly there is significant potential for these ideas to drive a revitalised public debate about the purpose of economic and social policy.

The recent London riots are a powerful wake up call about the consequences of the loss of a shared moral compass and of the corrosion of shred values of reciprocity and common good.

This conference provided an important opportunity to reflect on the ways in which we might reset our ethical compass to navigate an increasingly threatening global ecological and economic environment.

• Happiness Index
• Economic development

Want to write?

Write an article and join a growing community of more than 182,700 academics and researchers from 4,947 institutions.

Register now

University of Notre Dame

Undergraduate Admissions

Stories & News

• Home ›
• Visit & Engage ›
• Stories & News ›
• Can Arts & Letters Majors Do Research at Notre Dame? Absolutely! Two Students Share their Stories

Can Arts & Letters Majors Do Research at Notre Dame? Absolutely! Two Students Share their Stories

Published: April 30, 2024

Author: Elizabeth Prater

Research spans many disciplines at Notre Dame. Each college has a myriad of opportunities available for undergraduates, including students in the College of Arts and Letters .

Whether your major is Africana studies, economics, sociology, political science, or any of the expansive  arts and letters programs , you'll have plenty of options to, as they say, "Study Everything" and "Do Anything." 

Looking for research options, advising, or funding? The Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement (CUSE) is here to help.  Check out their guide for students who are ready to get started.

Featured below are two student researchers representing their majors in the program of liberal studies/economics and political science/peace studies respectively.

Through collaboration with different departments offering guidance and funding at Notre Dame, such as the Liu Institute , the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts , and the Kellogg International Scholars Program , these students took advantage of Notre Dame’s resources to dive into topics that capture their passions and interests.

Rose Quinlan '24

Majors: Program of liberal studies (PLS), economics

I am working on a senior thesis exploring the ethical dilemmas presented by the Gross National Happiness index in Bhutan. Bhutan is a small Buddhist monarchy in the Himalayas that has chosen a unique approach to economic development.

The royal government has chosen to maximize Gross National Happiness (GNH), a metric that is calculated in an annual survey that measures several indicators of satisfaction amongst Bhutanese citizens. The GNH index has led Bhutan to pursue an agenda of economic isolationism, environmental protection, and extreme cultural preservation.

My research focuses on the ethical problems arising from Bhutan’s GNH approach, and conversely, the ethical problems arising from a more traditional or growth-centric approach to development. This includes extensive qualitative and quantitative research on Bhutan’s economic and political history, as well as research on several schools of thought surrounding happiness and developmental policy.

Thanks to the UROP Senior Thesis Grant and the Roberts Endowment for Undergraduate Research in East Asia, I was able to travel to Bhutan and interview government officials at the Center for GNH Research. I am incredibly grateful for the support of my advisor, Associate Professor Thomas Stapleford, as well as the Liu Institute and the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA).

How I got started:

I wanted to do a project that combined my interests in philosophy and economics, so I started working with my advisor to find a topic within the debate surrounding standard-of-living metrics. I began thinking about the World Happiness Report, and I was surprised to discover that the index was inspired by a resolution submitted to the United Nations by the Kingdom of Bhutan. I knew nothing about Bhutan but became fascinated with their approach to public policy, and the idea just snowballed into a thesis from there!

What I’ve learned:

Prior to my research, I knew very little about Bhutan, and it was difficult to find reliable information about the country. I had to start by learning the basics—history, dynasties, religious beliefs—and work my way up from there. There was definitely a learning curve, but it was incredibly exciting to learn about a culture and political environment that was so different from my own.

For example, I was amazed to learn that the current King of Bhutan established a national parliament and constitution in 2008, and many Bhutanese citizens protested because they preferred the absolute monarchy. In addition, my research exposed me to the compelling philosophical controversy surrounding development, as well as the debate on happiness and how nations might try to quantify it.

Working on an independent project also helped me realize my own strengths as an individual and a student. Traveling alone in a country that is not well-suited for tourists was challenging, but rewarding, and I got to see a part of the world that many people have never heard of. The writing itself has taught me how to tackle large compositions, and as a writer, I feel that I am finding my voice as I narrate Bhutan’s unique story.

Khya Morton '24

Majors: Political science, peace studies Minor: Italian 

I am an undergraduate research assistant for Professor Ernesto Verdeja through the Kellogg International Scholars Program. This is a competitive research program offered by the Kellogg Institute that pairs selected students with a Kellogg faculty fellow to develop and strengthen their research skills throughout their undergraduate career (sophomore to senior year).

Professor Verdeja specializes in critical theory, genocide and mass atrocities, early warning technologies, and political reconciliation. My work with him has been centered around the causes and consequences of genocide and mass atrocities as well as prevention efforts.

Currently, I am compiling a list of non-fiction books published in 2023 in preparation for the Institute for the Study of Genocide’s biennial Lemkin Book Award for the best book on genocide and mass atrocity. However, I typically complete a variety of qualitative research projects throughout the school year depending on Professor Verdeja’s upcoming policy reports, presentations, peer-reviewed articles, etc. 

For instance, last semester we started a project on the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. I was tasked with searching through the UN System to see which offices and agencies reference the 2014 Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes in their publications or implement it in their operations. My research was just one aspect of a broader analysis of the functionality and influence of this UN Office on the international atrocity prevention community.

I took Introduction to Peace Studies with Professor Verdeja during the spring semester of my first year. His course instantly became one of my favorites because we explored so many topics that piqued my interest—the responsibility to protect, restorative versus retributive justice, and civil and human rights violations.

So, I started attending Professor Verdeja’s office hours to learn more about his academic background and research expertise because I was interested in pursuing undergraduate research in a similar field. Ultimately, he told me about the Kellogg International Scholars Program and encouraged me to apply…the rest is history!

One of the most useful skills that I have learned from my research with Professor Verdeja is how to critically analyze and summarize scholarly sources and intergovernmental reports while detailing their significance to our research project(s).

Academic publications can be very taxing to break down and comprehend. So, I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to strengthen such an important skill, especially before entering my graduate education and career in law—which will demand strong reading comprehension, critical thinking, and analytical skills.

Regarding the content of our research, I have learned about different triggers of large-scale atrocities and violence throughout history (e.g., political, economic, and social ideologies; individual perpetrator motivations; social media disinformation). The perpetration of genocide and mass atrocities remains an unfortunate reality in our world, so I think this research is very important for the ongoing discourse on early warning frameworks and genocide prevention efforts.

• Learn about research in the College of Arts and Letters.
• Check out the Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement.
• Read about more student research experiences.