Happiness and Public Policy

YEW-KWANG NG holds a personal chair at Monash University, Australia, and has been a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia since 1980. He is best known for his work in welfare economics. He has published more than 150 refereed papers in Economics and a dozen in Biology, Mathematics, Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology. Books published include Welfare Economics, Mesoeconomics: A Micro-Macro Analysis, Social Welfare and Economic Policy, Specialization and Economic Organization (with X. Yang), Economics and Happiness, Efficiency, Equality, and Public Policy: With a Case

• Introduction: Happiness as the Only Ultimate Objective of Public Policy; Y-k.Ng & L.S.Ho PART 1: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE STATE OF WELL BEING OF HUMANITY Quality-of-life in the Modern Society Measured with Happy Life Years; R.Veenhoven PART 2: DETERMINANTS AND ORIGINS OF HAPPINESS: THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 'The 'Three Happinesses' and Public Policy'; L.S.Ho Internal and External Determinants of Subjective Well Being: Review and Policy Implications; U.Schimmack Economics and Happiness Research: Insights from Austrian and Public Choice Economics; C.J.Coyne & P.J.Boettke PART 3: AREA AND POLICY CASE STUDIES Do Cigarettes Make Smokers Happier? J.Gruber & S.Mullainathan Happiness and the Pursuit of a Life Worth Living: An Anthropological Approach; G.Mathews Psychological Approaches to the Relationship between Happiness and Public Policy in P.R. China; K.Shi, X-l.Wang, R.Zheng, W.Shi, J-f.Lu & H-x.Fan Happiness and Development: Public Policy Initiatives in the Kingdom of Bhutan; V.K.Shrotyria An Exploratory Study of Resilience among Hong Kong Employees: Ways to Happiness; O-l.Siu, S.L.Chow, D.R.Phillips & L.Lin Fun, Fervour or Fitness? Sporting Cultures and Happiness; B.Bridges PART 4: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS Public Policy Implications of Behavioural Economics and Happiness Studies; Y-k.Ng