The Easterlin Paradox is a key concept in happiness economics. Happiness economics is the study of a country's Well-being by combining economists' and psychologists' techniques It was postulated by economist Richard Easterlin in the 1974 paper "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence. Richard A Easterlin is University Professor and Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California. "[1] It finds that, contrary to expectation, happiness at a national level does not increase with wealth once basic needs are fulfilled.
This concept has recently been revived by Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick, driving media interest in the topic. Andrew Oswald (born November 27, 1953) is a Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick, UK The University of Warwick is a British Campus university located on the outskirts of Coventry, West Midlands, England and is Recent research has utilised many different forms of measuring happiness, including biological measures, showing similar patterns of results. This goes some way to answering the problems of self-rated happiness.
The implication for government policy is that once basic needs are met, policy should focus not on economic growth or GDP, but rather on increasing life satisfaction or GNH. Gross National Happiness (GNH is an attempt to define Quality of life in more holistic and psychological terms than Gross National Product.
Contents |
Criticism
Easterlin's original empirical study was a survey in which people were asked how happy they were on a scale from 1 to 10. Empirical studies in Social sciences are when the research ends are based on evidence and not just theory The problem is that people who reported being very happy (10) could not report growing any happier, regardless of whether their wealth increased or they did in fact become happier than they thought possible on previous surveys. This argument, however, has drawbacks of its own. First, it is likely that someone who reported being 10 could not imagine being any happier and thus, that additional wealth would not have made them happier. Second, if economic growth did make people more happy in general you would expect to find people who had previously responded at other levels (7,8,9 etc. ) showing improvements. In short, it would be odd if economic growth only made people who were already extremely happy, happier.
In 2003 Ruut Veenhoven and Michael Hagerty published a new analysis based on including various sources of data, and their conclusion was that there is no paradox and countries get indeed happier with increasing income. [2] In his reply Easterlin maintained his position, pointing that the critics were using inadequate data. [3]
Recently, economists Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson, both of the University of Pennsylvania, published a paper where they reassessed the Easterlin paradox using new time-series data. Justin Wolfers is an Australian-American Economist at Pennsylvania 's Wharton School of Business. The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn) is a private University located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. They conclude like Veenhoven at all that, contrary to Easterlin's claim, increases in absolute income are tightly linked to increased self-reported happiness. [2][4][5]
Notes
- ^ Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence.
- ^ a b WEALTH AND HAPPINESS REVISITED Growing wealth of nations does go with greater happiness
- ^ "FEEDING THE ILLUSION OF GROWTH AND HAPPINESS: A REPLY TO HAGERTY AND VEENHOVEN" by Richard A. Easterlin
- ^ Maybe Money Does Buy Happiness After All - New York Times
- ^ Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox
References
- Easterlin, Richard A. (1974) "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot?" in Paul A. David and Melvin W. Reder, eds. , Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honor of Moses Abramovitz, New York: Academic Press, Inc.
- Oswald, Andrew. (2006) "The Hippies Were Right all Along about Happiness" Financial Times, January 19, 2006.
External links
- It's experts that make us miserable - Nick Cohen - The Guardian - January 28, 2007. Nick Cohen is a British journalist author and political commentator The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian) is a British Newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Events 1077 - Walk to Canossa: The Excommunication of Henry IV Holy Roman Emperor is lifted Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
- The Hippies Were Right all Along about Happiness - Andrew Oswald - Financial Times - January 19, 2006. Andrew Oswald (born November 27, 1953) is a Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick, UK The Financial Times ( FT) is a British international business Newspaper. Events 1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England completing his reconquest of Normandy. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
- Happiness Is Increasing in Many Countries -- But Why? - Bruce Stokes - July 24, 2007. Events 1132 - Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic