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Happiness Research: State and Prospects

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Author Info
Bruno S. Frey
Alois Stutzer

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Abstract

This paper intends to provide an evaluation of where the economic research on happiness stands and in which interesting directions it might develop. First, the current state of the research on happiness in economics is briefly discussed. We emphasize the potential of happiness research in testing competing theories of individual behavior. Second, the crucial issue of causality is taken up illustrating it for a particular case, namely whether marriage makes people happy or whether happy people get married. Third, happiness research is taken up as a new approach to measuring utility in the context of cost-benefit analysis.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA) in its series CREMA Working Paper Series with number 2004-10.

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Date of creation: May 2004
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Handle: RePEc:cra:wpaper:2004-10

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Related research
Keywords: causality; cost-benefit analysis; happiness research; life satisfaction approach; marriage; selection; subjective well-being; terrorism;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare
J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

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  17. Rafael Lalive & Alois Stutzer, 2004. "Approval of Equal Rights and Gender Differences in Well-Being," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2002. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 402-435, June.
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  19. Igor Evstigneev & Thorsten Hens & Klaus Reiner Schenk-Hoppé, 2003. "Evolutionary Stable Stock Markets," Discussion Papers 03-39, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  20. Alois Stutzer & Bruno S. Frey, . "Does Marriage Make People Happy, Or Do Happy People Get Married?," IEW - Working Papers iewwp143, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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    Other versions:
  22. Bruno S. Frey & Simon Luechinger & Alois Stutzer, 2004. "Valuing Public Goods: The Life Satisfaction Approach," CREMA Working Paper Series 2004-11, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA). [Downloadable!]
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  23. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2000. "Gender Differences in Pay," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 75-99, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  24. Frijters, Paul & Shields, Michael A. & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos & Wheatley Price, Stephen, 2003. "Testing for Employee Discrimination Using Matched Employer-Employee Data: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 807, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  30. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, . "Testing Theories of Happiness," IEW - Working Papers iewwp147, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  31. Di Tella, Rafael & MacCulloch, Robert J. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2001. "The Macroeconomics of Happiness," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 615, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  32. Hens,Thorsten & Herings,P. Jean-Jacques & Predtetchinskii,Arkadi, 2003. "Limits to Arbitrage when Market Participation Is Restricted," Research Memoranda 061, Maastricht : METEOR, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization. [Downloadable!]
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  33. Richard Carson & Robert Mitchell & Michael Hanemann & Raymond Kopp & Stanley Presser & Paul Ruud, 2003. "Contingent Valuation and Lost Passive Use: Damages from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 25(3), pages 257-286, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  49. Jonathan Gruber & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2002. "Do Cigarette Taxes Make Smokers Happier?," NBER Working Papers 8872, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  50. Foellmi, Reto & Oechslin, Manuel, 2007. "Who gains from non-collusive corruption?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 95-119, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Bruno S. Frey & Simon Luechinger & Alois Stutzer, . "Calculating Tragedy: Assessing the Costs of Terrorism," IEW - Working Papers iewwp205, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Joachim Merz & Tim Rathjen, 2009. "Time and Income Poverty: An Interdependent Multidimensional Poverty Approach with German Time Use Diary Data," SOEPpapers 215, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). [Downloadable!]
  3. Philipp C. Wichardt & Pavlo R. Blavatskyy, . "Base-Rate Neglect and Imperfect Information Acquisition," IEW - Working Papers iewwp233, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  4. Merz, Joachim & Rathjen, Tim, 2009. "Time and Income Poverty: An Interdependent Multidimensional Poverty Approach with German Time Use Diary Data," IZA Discussion Papers 4337, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  5. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, . "Making International Organizations More Democratic," IEW - Working Papers iewwp217, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Stefan Mann, 2007. "Comparing Interpersonal Comparisons in Utility Theory and Happiness Research," Forum for Social Economics, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 29-42, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. David G. Blanchflower, 2008. "International evidence on well-being," NBER Working Papers 14318, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Peter Woehrmann & Willi Semmler & Martin Lettau, . "Nonparametric Estimation of the Time-varying Sharpe Ratio in Dynamic Asset Pricing Models," IEW - Working Papers iewwp225, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  9. Patrick Leoni, . "Learning in Repeated Games without Repeating the Game," IEW - Working Papers iewwp215, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  10. Margit Osterloh & Bruno S. Frey, . "Shareholders Should Welcome Employees as Directors," IEW - Working Papers iewwp228, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Russell Smyth & Ingrid Nielsen & Qingguo Zhai & Tiemin Liu & Yin Liu & C.Y. Tang & Zhihong Wang & Zuxiang Wang & Juyong Zhang, 2008. "Environmental Surroundings And Personal Well-Being In Urban China," Monash Economics Working Papers 32/08, Monash University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Steffen Huck & Michael Kosfeld, . "The Dynamics of Neighbourhood Watch and Norm Enforcement," IEW - Working Papers iewwp199, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Ernst Fehr & Susanne Kremhelmer & Klaus M. Schmidt, . "Fairness and the Optimal Allocation of Ownership Rights," IEW - Working Papers iewwp224, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Bruno S. Frey, . "Happiness Research: State and Prospects," IEW - Working Papers iewwp192, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  15. Pavlo Blavatskyy, . "Why the Olympics have three prizes and not just one," IEW - Working Papers iewwp200, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  16. Philipp C. Wichardt, . "An Application of Global Games to Signalling Models," IEW - Working Papers iewwp223, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  17. Salvador Barberà & Anke Gerber, . "A Note on the Impossibility of a Satisfactory Concept of Stability for Coalition Formation Games," IEW - Working Papers iewwp238, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Anke Gerber, . "Learning in and about Games," IEW - Working Papers iewwp234, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  19. Russell Smyth & Ingrid Nielsen & Qingguo Zhai, 2009. "Personal Well-Being In Urban China," Development Research Unit Working Paper Series 01-09, Monash University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  20. Peter Woehrmann, . "A dynamic model of the financial–real interaction as a model selection criterion for nonparametric stock market prediction," IEW - Working Papers iewwp226, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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