Policies for Happiness
Stefano Bartolini, Ennio Bilancini, Luigino Bruni, and Pier Luigi Porta
Abstract
Happiness research is raising new questions that capture the attention of a growing public audience. This book considers three classes of such questions, attempting to provide answers in a format that is broadly accessible. The first class of questions considered pertains to foundational issues and can be summarized as follows: should happiness research be taken seriously for the purposes of policy-making? Is subjective well-being a meaningful policy target at all? Can research on subjective well-being be used to advise governments on reforms aimed at increasing happiness? This book tries to a ... More
Happiness research is raising new questions that capture the attention of a growing public audience. This book considers three classes of such questions, attempting to provide answers in a format that is broadly accessible. The first class of questions considered pertains to foundational issues and can be summarized as follows: should happiness research be taken seriously for the purposes of policy-making? Is subjective well-being a meaningful policy target at all? Can research on subjective well-being be used to advise governments on reforms aimed at increasing happiness? This book tries to answer by directly confronting happiness advocates and their opponents. The second class of questions pertains to more practical issues and can be summarized as follows: if happiness research can be taken seriously, does it identify dimensions of well-being that have been neglected by traditional policies? In particular, does it suggest that we should shift the current focus of policies from growth to something different? This book tries to answer by asking questions to leading global experts on the subject. The last class of questions pertains to the history of political and economic thought, and can be summarized as follows: what can we learn from the way we used to think about happiness and public policies in the past? What is the relationship with how we think about it now? The answers in this book come from the study of “civil economy” and “relational goods.”
Keywords:
happiness,
subjective well-being,
public policy,
global experts,
policy-making,
civil economy,
relational goods
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198758730 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198758730.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Stefano Bartolini, editor
Associate Professor of Economics, University of Siena
Ennio Bilancini, editor
Associate Professor of Economics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Luigino Bruni, editor
Professor of Economics, Università LUMSA Rome
Pier Luigi Porta, editor
Full professor, University of Milano-Bicocca
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