An economist’s lessons on happiness: farewell dismal science!

By:

Easterlin, Richard A

Contributor(s):

Easterlin, Nancy L [Editor]

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Springer 2021 SwitzerlandDescription: xvii, 179 p. col. ill. Includes bibliographic references and indexISBN:

9783030619619

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

330.019 E2E2

Summary: Once called the “dismal science,” economics now offers prescriptions for improving people’s happiness. In this book Richard Easterlin, the “father of happiness economics,” draws on a half-century of his own research and that conducted by fellow economists and psychologists to answer in plain language questions like: Can happiness be measured? Will more money make me happier? What about finding a partner? Getting married? Having a baby? More exercise? Does religion help? Who is happier—women or men, young or old, rich or poor? How does happiness change as we go through different stages of life? Public policy is also in the mix: Can the government increase people’s happiness? Should the government increase their happiness? Which countries are the happiest and why? Does a country need to be rich to be happy? Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some of the answers are surprising (no, more money won’t do the trick; neither will economic growth; babies are a mixed blessing!), but they are all based on reason and well-vetted evidence from the fields of economics and psychology. In closing, Easterlin traces the genesis of the ongoing “Happiness Revolution” and considers its implications for people’s lives down the road. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030619619

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Book	Ahmedabad General Stacks	Non-fiction	330.019 E2E2 (Browse shelf(Opens below))		Available		203939
Book	Bodh Gaya General Stacks	PPGM	330.019 EAS (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		IIMG-004288

Total holds: 0

Table of contents

Part I: First Lessons
Measuring Happiness
Does Money Make People Happy?
How Does Health Affect Happiness?
Family Life and Happiness
How Can I Increase My Happiness?
Part II: Next Lessons
Can Government Increase My Happiness: Transition Countries
Can Government Increase My Happiness: Nordic Countries
Happiness or GDP?
Part III: Q & A
Who Is Happier
Young or Old? Women or Men?
More on Money and Happiness
What About Democracy, Religion, Charity, Volunteering, Etc.?
Who to Believe? Psychology or Economics?
Critiquing the Paradox
Part IV: History Lessons
Dawn of the Happiness Revolution
Dream on, Professor!

Once called the “dismal science,” economics now offers prescriptions for improving people’s happiness. In this book Richard Easterlin, the “father of happiness economics,” draws on a half-century of his own research and that conducted by fellow economists and psychologists to answer in plain language questions like: Can happiness be measured? Will more money make me happier? What about finding a partner? Getting married? Having a baby? More exercise? Does religion help? Who is happier—women or men, young or old, rich or poor? How does happiness change as we go through different stages of life?
Public policy is also in the mix: Can the government increase people’s happiness? Should the government increase their happiness? Which countries are the happiest and why? Does a country need to be rich to be happy? Does economic growth improve the human lot?
Some of the answers are surprising (no, more money won’t do the trick; neither will economic growth; babies are a mixed blessing!), but they are all based on reason and well-vetted evidence from the fields of economics and psychology. In closing, Easterlin traces the genesis of the ongoing “Happiness Revolution” and considers its implications for people’s lives down the road.

https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030619619

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