‘Happiness Research’ has attracted a great deal of attention in the social sciences as well as inthe general public. This is reflected by a massive increase in the amount of scholarly work onpeople’s subjective well-being1 and the frequent featuring of happiness research in the media.The...

The trends and consequences of terrorist activities are often captured bycounting the number of incidents and casualties. More recently, the effects of terroristacts on various aspects of the economy have been analyzed. These costs aresurveyed and put in perspective. As economic consequences are...

This paper analyzes the causal relationships between marriage and subjective well-beingin a longitudinal data set spanning 17 years. We find evidence that happier singles opt more likelyfor marriage and that there are large differences in the benefits from marriage between couples.Potential, as...

People not only obtain utility from actual outcomes but also from the conditionswhich lead to these outcomes. The paper proposes an economic concept of this notion ofprocedural utility. Preferences beyond outcome can be manifold. We distinguish proceduralutility people get from institutions as...

This paper intends to provide an evaluation of where the economic research onhappiness stands and in which interesting directions it might develop...

People spend more and more time commuting and often find it a burden. According to economics, the burden of commuting is chosen when compensated either on the labor or on the housing market so that individuals utility is equalized....

Over the last decades, empirical research on subjective well-being in the socialsciences has provided a major new stimulus to the discourse on individual happiness.Recently this research has also been linked to economics where reported subjective wellbeingis often taken as a proxy measure for...

In many countries, TV viewers have access to more and more TV channels. We study whether people can cope with this and watch the amount of TV they find optimal for themselves or whether they are prone to over-consumption. We find that heavy TV viewers do not benefit, but instead report lower...

In many countries environmental policies and regulations are implemented to improve environmental quality and thus individuals' well-being. However, how do individuals value the environment? In this paper, we review the Life Satisfaction Approach (LSA) representing a new non-market valuation...