While research on subjective well-being abounds, comparatively little thought has been given to its practical policy implications. Two approaches to derive policy advice have emerged in the literature: One is organized in terms of the idea to maximize a hedonic social welfare function, the other...

We posit that feeling constrained impedes happiness. Under this view, utility and happiness maximization yield the same optimal choices in a variety of standard economic decision problems, but utility and happiness can move in opposite directions in response to exogenous shocks. Our theory (i)...

While research on subjective well-being abounds, comparatively little thought has been given to its practical policy implications. Two approaches to derive policy advice have emerged in the literature: One is organized in terms of the idea to maximize a hedonic social welfare function, the other...

In this paper I discuss the major approaches to happiness in the economics of happiness: Hedonism and life-satisfaction approaches. It is possible to identify a tension between two important principles in this literature: 1) individuals are the best judges of their own happiness, and 2) the...

The aim of this paper is to explain the process of diversification of normative economics by presenting the work of two authors: Tibor Scitovsky [1910-2002] and Amartya Sen [1933-]. While these two authors first contributed to traditional welfare analysis from within, they were subsequently...

In their latest book (2008), Bruno Frey and the members of the research group he chairs at the University of Zurich announce that happiness research is leading a revolution in economics. More precisely, the revolutionary character of happiness economics would draw on measurement, on how people...

Die dem ungebremsten Wachstum verschriebene Wirtschaftspolitik in den USA führt zu erheblichem emotionalen Stress. Den Wirtschaftsmotor auf Hochtouren laufen zu lassen, bedeutet, dass die Maximierung der Produktion im Vordergrund steht, ohne Berücksichtigung der negativen Externalitäten,...

What do social surveys of life cycle experience tell us about the determinants of subjective well-being? First, that the psychologists? setpoint model is wrong. Life events in the nonpecuniary domain, such as marriage, divorce, and physical disability, have a lasting effect on well-being, and do...

Sorting of people on the labor market not only assures the most productive use of valuable skills but also generates individual utility gains if people experience an optimal match between job characteristics and their preferences. Based on individual data on reported satisfaction with life it is...