We propose a measure of well-being efficiency to assess countries' ability to transform inputs into subjective well-being (Cantril ladder). We use the six inputs (real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom of choice, absence of corruption, and generosity) identified in...

We estimate a measure of well-being efficiency that assesses countries' ability to transform inputs into subjective well-being (Cantril ladder). We use the six inputs (real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom of choice, absence of corruption, and generosity)...

Ups and downs in city life are dependent on the citizens' appreciation for their urban "home", in particular the neighbourhood liveability. Taking modern research on urban wellbeing and happiness as a point of departure, this study presents and tests a new methodology for assessing the...

Using a counterfactual approach based on propensity score matching with Rosenbaum bounds in a cross section of 134 countries, we study the causal effect of colonisation on contemporary subjective happiness. Findings reveal that the settled countries, specifically former French colonies,...

This chapter uses happiness data to assess the quality of government. Our happiness data are drawn from the Gallup World Poll, starting in 2005 and extending to 2017 or 2018. In our analysis of the panel of more than 150 countries and generally over 1,500 national-level observations, we show...

Ups and downs in city life are dependent on the citizens' appreciation for their urban "home", in particular the neighbourhood liveability. Taking modern research on urban wellbeing and happiness as a point of departure, this study presents and tests a new methodology for assessing the...

Happiness research, which has been strongly represented in the social sciences for some years, also offers opportunities for application in public policy. Consequently, there are already considerations to evaluate development policy by the yardstick of subjective well-being. This paper aims to...

Motivated by recent interest and initiatives taken by several governments and international organizations to come up with indicators of well-being to inform policy makers, we test if subjective well-being measures (SWB) can be employed to study voting behaviour. Controlling for financial and...

Starting from the assumption that improving well-being is the central consideration for public policies, we show how subjective well-being research can help, and already is helping, to choose public policies based on their consequences for all aspects of life. The core of the paper lies in...

This chapter uses happiness data to assess the quality of government. Our happiness data are drawn from the Gallup World Poll, starting in 2005 and extending to 2017 or 2018. In our analysis of the panel of more than 150 countries and generally over 1,500 national-level observations, we show...

Starting from the assumption that improving well-being is the central consideration for public policies, we show how subjective well-being research can help, and already is helping, to choose public policies based on their consequences for all aspects of life. The core of the paper lies in...

Welfare and well-being have traditionally been gauged by using income and employment statistics, life expectancy, and other objective measures. The Economics of Happiness, which is based on people's reports of how their lives are going, provides a complementary yet radically different approach...

This paper is the first to investigate the role of work-life balance in financial analysts' performance and career advancement. Using a large sample of Glassdoor reviews by financial analysts, we find a significant non-linear relation between perceived work-life balance and analyst performance...

"This manuscript provides international and Canadian perspectives on the possibilities for “beyond-GDP” measurement, i.e. alternative or complementary metrics that could allow a move beyond reliance on the Gross Domestic Product as the dominant indicator of economic and social performance....

This paper examines the impact of the failed coup d'état attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, on people's happiness, life satisfaction, and trust and finds that the plot had a significant negative effect on all three variables. This paper is the first to show that coups d'état can have a...

Econometric analyses in the happiness literature typically use subjective well-being (SWB) data to compare the mean of observed or latent happiness across samples. Recent critiques show that com-paring the mean of ordinal data is only valid under strong assumptions that are usually rejected by...

Econometric analyses in the happiness literature typically use subjective well-being (SWB) data to compare the mean of observed or latent happiness across samples. Recent critiques show that comparing the mean of ordinal data is only valid under strong assumptions that are usually rejected by...

Econometric analyses in the happiness literature typically use subjective well-being (SWB) data to compare the mean of observed or latent happiness across samples. Recent critiques show that com-paring the mean of ordinal data is only valid under strong assumptions that are usually rejected by...

Once called the "dismal science," economics now offers prescriptions for improving people's happiness. In this book Richard Easterlin, the "father of happiness economics," draws on a half-century of his own research and that conducted by fellow economists and psychologists to answer in plain...

"Examining the fundamental thinking underpinning the foundation for economic studies of happiness, this book explores the theories of key economists and philosophers from the Greek philosophers to more modern schools of thought. Lall Ramrattan and Michael Szenberg explore the general measures of...

Contents: 1 Happiness and wellbeing: past foundations, modern evidence and future paths / Luigino Bruni, Dalila De Rosa and Alessandra Smerilli -- 2 What future happiness research? / Bruno Frey -- PART I HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS -- 3 Aristotle,...

Introduction -- Part I: First Lessons -- Measuring Happiness -- Does Money Make People Happy? -- How Does Health Affect Happiness? -- Family Life and Happiness -- How Can I Increase My Happiness? -- Part II: Next Lessons -- Can Government Increase My Happiness: Transition Countries -- Can...

We replicate nine key results from the happiness literature: the Easterlin Paradox, the 'U-shaped' relation between happiness and age, the happiness trade-off between inflation and unemployment, cross-country comparisons of happiness, the impact of the Moving to Opportunity program on happiness,...

We replicate nine key results from the happiness literature: the Easterlin Paradox, the ‘U-shaped' relation between happiness and age, the happiness trade-off between inflation and unemployment, cross-country comparisons of happiness, the impact of the Moving to Opportunity program on...

Merely anticipating a future sad event may motivate consumers to “accumulate (i.e., bank) happiness” in order to enhance their ability to cope with the anticipated sadness later— a phenomenon that we call banking happiness. People bank happiness because of the lay theory that happiness is...