Happiness, Growth, and the Life Cycle

The second in a series of books published with the IZA, this volume presents Richard Easterlin's outstanding research on the analysis of subjective well-being, and on the relationship between demographic developments and economic outcomes. In both fields, his work has laid the foundations for enlarging the scope of traditional economic analysis and has increased our understanding of behavior in several important domains, such as fertility choices, labor market behavior, and the determinants of individual well-being. In various seminal contributions, Easterlin has demonstrated the importance of material aspirations and relative economic status for human behavior. This book is a collection of 11 of his key papers, revised and edited to make a cohesive book. New material includes an Introduction from the editors, two section Introductions from Easterlin, and an Epilogue from Easterlin.

Richard A. Easterlin is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a former Guggenheim Fellow, and Past President of the Population Association of America, and the Economic History Association. He was awarded the 2009 IZA Prize in Labour Economics.

Introduction by the Editors: Shaping the Economics of Happiness -The Fundamental Contributions of Richard A. Easterlin	p. 1
Growth and Happiness Introduction	p. 6
Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence	p. 13
The Concept and Measurement of Happiness	p. 14
Concept	p. 14
Measurement Problems	p. 20
The Evidence	p. 24
Within-Country Comparisons	p. 24
International Comparisons	p. 28
National Time Series	p. 32
Interpretation	p. 35
Theory	p. 35
Evidence for a ôRelative Income" Interpretation	p. 36
An Analogy	p. 40
Summary and Concluding Observations	p. 41
Will Raising the Incomes of All Increase the Happiness of All?	p. 46
Model	p. 46
Evidence	p. 47
Conclusion	p. 54
Happiness and Economic Growth: Does the Cross-Section Predict Time Trends? Evidence from Developing Countries	p. 56
Data and Measures	p. 58
Methods	p. 61
Results	p. 63
Conclusion	p. 77
	p. 79
	p. 81
	p. 81
Lost in Transition: Life Satisfaction on the Road to Capitalism	p. 82
Concept, Data, Methods	p. 85
The Trend in Well-Being	p. 87
Winners and Losers	p. 95
The 1990s in Current and Historical Perspective	p. 100
Conclusions and Implications	p. 107
	p. 109
	p. 111
Concepts and Methods	p. 112
Results	p. 113
The Cross-Sectional Relationship	p. 113
Time Series Evidence: Long Series	p. 116
Time Series Evidence: Short Series	p. 118
Time Series Evidence: Mixing Short and Long Series	p. 123
Why Do the Short and Long Term Relationships between Happiness and Economic Growth Differ?	p. 126
Conclusion	p. 128
Life Cycle Happiness Introduction	p. 130
Income and Happiness: Towards a Unified Theory	p. 133
Introduction	p. 133
Empirical Relationships	p. 134
The Cross-Sectional Relationship	p. 134
The Life Cycle Pattern	p. 136
Past and Prospective Happiness	p. 139
Explaining the Relationships: Theory	p. 140
Explaining the Relationships: Evidence	p. 143
Summary	p. 151
Life Cycle Happiness and Its Sources: Intersections of Psychology, Economics, and Demography	p. 153
Psychology and Economies	p. 153
The Nature of Life Cycle Happiness	p. 153
Determinants of Life Cycle Happiness	p. 156
	p. 159
Conceptual Framework	p. 160
Data and Methods	p. 161
Results	p. 163
The Average Trend in Life Cycle Happiness	p. 163
Average Trends in Domain Satisfaction	p. 167
Domain Satisfaction and Happiness	p. 169
Summary and Implications	p. 171
	p. 172
	p. 173
	p. 174
The Cross-Over in the Life Cycle Happiness of American Women and Men	p. 175
Results	p. 176
Summary and Discussion	p. 185
	p. 186
	p. 187
Aspirations, Attainments, and Satisfaction: Life Cycle Differences between American Women and Men	p. 189
Aims	p. 189
Data	p. 190
Methods	p. 192
Results: Gender Differences in Aspirations, Attainments, Satisfaction, and Happiness	p. 193
Family Life	p. 193
Big-Ticket Consumer Goods	p. 197
Happiness	p. 200
	p. 201
Race	p. 202
Education	p. 202
Birth Cohort	p. 203
Summary	p. 203
	p. 205
	p. 206
Happiness and Domain Satisfaction: New Directions for the Economics of Happiness	p. 207
Prior Work	p. 208
Data and Methods	p. 209
Results	p. 213
	p. 225
	p. 227
	p. 228
	p. 230
Explaining Happiness	p. 231
Is there a Setpoint of Happiness	p. 232
Is More Better?	p. 240
Aspirations and Adaptation	p. 241
Explaining Happiness	p. 245
Epilogue	p. 248
Notes	p. 252
References	p. 259
Index	p. 274
About the Author and the Editors	p. 282
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Happiness, Growth, and the Life Cycle

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Author Biography

Table of Contents

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