Happiness
A Revolution in Economics
September 2010
6 x 9, 256 pp.
$19.00/£14.95 (PAPER)
Short
ISBN-10:
0-262-51495-8
ISBN-13:
978-0-262-51495-8
Revolutionary developments in economics are rare. The conservative bias of the field and its enshrined knowledge make it difficult to introduce new ideas not in line with received theory. Happiness research, however, has the potential to change economics substantially. Its findings, which are gradually being taken into account in standard economics, can be considered revolutionary in three respects: the measurement of experienced utility using psychologists' tools for measuring subjective well-being, new insights into how human beings value goods and services and social conditions that include consideration of such non-material values as autonomy and social relations, and policy consequences of these new insights that suggest different ways for government to affect individual well-being. In Happiness, Bruno Frey, emphasizing empirical evidence rather than theoretical conjectures, substantiates these three revolutionary claims for happiness research. "Bruno Frey and his colleagues brilliantly defend the idea that happiness measures can serve a very useful function in economics, and in so doing enlarge the vision of all of the human sciences." "An outstanding overview of the subject by a world leader in the field. Frey has an instinct for the right, revealing question combined with the techniques to find an illuminating answer." "Long a pioneer in the application of psychology to economics, Bruno Frey provides a masterful synthesis of happiness research, and demonstrates both its policy value and growing challenge to economic orthodoxy."
After tracing the major developments of happiness research in economics and demonstrating that we have gained important new insights into how income, unemployment, inflation, and income demonstration affect well-being, Frey examines democracy and federalism, self-employment and volunteer work, marriage, terrorism, and watching television from the new perspective of happiness research. Turning to policy implications, Frey describes how government can provide the conditions under which people can achieve well-being, arguing that effective political institutions and decentralized decision making play crucial roles. Happiness demonstrates the achievements of the economic happiness revolution and points the way to future research.
About the Author
Burno S. Frey is Professor of Economics at the University of Zurich, Distinguished Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, and Research Director of CREMA (the Center for Research in Economics, Management, and the Arts).Endorsements
—Edward F. Diener, Department of Psychology, University of Illnois
—Lord Richard Layard, Emeritus Professor of Economics, London School of Economics
—Richard A. Easterlin, Department of Economics, University of Southern California
Happiness
A Revolution in Economics
Bruno S. FreySeries Foreword vii Preface 
Sample Chapter - Download PDF (51 KB)ix Major Developments Research on Happiness Sample Chapter - Download PDF (87 KB)3 The Relationship of Happiness to Utility 15 How Income Affects Happiness 27 How Unemployment Affects Happiness 45 How Inflation and Inequality Affect Happiness 55 Pushing Ahead The Public Sphere 61 Self-Employment and Voluntary Work 71 Marriage and Happiness 87 Watching Television 93 Procedural Utility 107 Mispredicting Utility 127 The Value of Public Goods 139 Policy Consequences Happiness Policies 151 Happiness and Political Institutions 177 A Revolution in Economics 199 References 205 Index Sample Chapter - Download PDF (52 KB)237
