Happiness in Economics

Edited by Richard A. Easterlin, University Professor, University of Southern California, US

'Economic psychologists - in fact all economists - should welcome Richard Easterlin's Happiness in Economics . . . Richard Easterlin is a felicitous choice as editor of this volume. He provides an excellent short introduction, and the readings included are well anchored by this classic 1974 article "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence". . . Easterlin's volume should rank high on our list of required readings. The articles he has chosen provide an excellent overview of the subject. What makes a volume of this sort work is the thoughtfulness and discrimination of the editor, and Easterlin is to be congratulated . . . I heartily recommend Happiness in Economics.'

• Contents:AcknowledgementsIntroduction Richard A. EasterlinPART IEARLY CONTRIBUTORS AHappiness and Income1. Richard A. Easterlin (1974), ‘Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence’BDeterminants of the Happiness-Income Relationship2. Jeffrey Friedman and Adam McCabe (1996), ‘Preferences or Happiness? Tibor Scitovsky’s Psychology of Human Needs’3. Tibor Scitovsky (1996), ‘My Own Criticism of The Joyless Economy’4. Yew-Kwang Ng (1978), ‘Economic Growth and Social Welfare: The Need for a Complete Study of Happiness’CPolicy Implications5. Robert H. Frank (1997), ‘The Frame of Reference as a Public Good’6. R. Layard (1980), ‘Human Satisfactions and Public Policy’DThe Leyden Analysis of Income Norms7. Bernard M.S. van Praag and Paul Frijters (1999), ‘The Measurement of Welfare and Well-Being: The Leyden Approach’8. Huib van de Stadt, Arie Kapteyn and Sara van de Geer (1985), ‘The Relativity of Utility: Evidence from Panel Data’9. Arie Kapteyn (2001), ‘Relative Utility and Income Growth: An Example’PART IIRECENT CONTRIBUTIONS: THE DETERMINANTS OF HAPPINESS 10. Andrew J. Oswald (1997), ‘Happiness and Economic Performance’11. Andrew E. Clark and Andrew J. Oswald (1994), ‘Unhappiness and Unemployment’12. Rafael Di Tella, Robert J. MacCulloch and Andrew J. Oswald (2001), ‘Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness’13. Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer (2000), ‘Happiness, Economy and Institutions’14. Richard A. Easterlin (2001), ‘Income and Happiness: Towards a Unified Theory’15. Amartya Sen (1996), ‘Rationality, Joy and Freedom’Name Index