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Unhappiness and Pain in Modern America: A Review Essay, and Further Evidence, on Carol Graham's Happiness for All?

Author

Listed:
  • David G. Blanchflower
  • Andrew J. Oswald

Abstract

In Happiness for All? Unequal Hopes and Lives in the Pursuit of the American Dream, Carol Graham raises disquieting ideas about today's United States. The challenge she puts forward is an important one. Here we review the intellectual case and offer additional evidence. We conclude broadly on the author's side. Strikingly, Americans appear to be in greater pain than citizens of other countries, and most subgroups of citizens have downwardly trended happiness levels. There is, however, one bright side to an otherwise dark story. The happiness of black Americans has risen strongly since the 1970s. It is now almost equal to that of white Americans.

Suggested Citation

  • David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2019. "Unhappiness and Pain in Modern America: A Review Essay, and Further Evidence, on Carol Graham's Happiness for All?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 57(2), pages 385-402, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jeclit:v:57:y:2019:i:2:p:385-402
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jel.20171492
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    Cited by:

    1. Macchia, Lucía & Oswald, Andrew J., 2021. "Physical pain, gender, and the state of the economy in 146 nations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    2. Sneha Lamba & Robert Moffitt, 2025. "The Rise in American Pain: The Importance of the Great Recession," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(8), pages 1385-1395, August.
    3. Hermien Dijk & Jochen Mierau, 2023. "Mental health over the life course: Evidence for a U‐shape?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 155-174, January.
    4. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2024. "Wellbeing Rankings," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 513-565, January.
    5. Strulik, Holger, 2021. "From pain patient to junkie: An economic theory of painkiller consumption and its impact on wellbeing and longevity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Alan Piper & David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2023. "Is pain associated with subsequent job loss? A panel study for Germany," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(1), pages 141-158, February.
    7. David G Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2022. "Further decoding the mystery of American pain: The importance of work," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, January.
    8. Macchia, Lucía & Daly, Michael & Delaney, Liam, 2023. "The effect of adverse employment circumstances on physical pain: evidence from Australian panel data," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119712, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Carol Graham & Sergio Pinto, 2019. "Unequal hopes and lives in the USA: optimism, race, place, and premature mortality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 665-733, April.
    10. Alan Piper & David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2021. "Does Pain Lead to Job Loss? A Panel Study for Germany," NBER Working Papers 28863, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. David G. Blanchflower & Carol L. Graham, 2022. "The Mid-Life Dip in Well-Being: a Critique," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 287-344, May.
    12. Strulik, Holger, 2020. "Opioid epidemics," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    13. Peter Buhlmann, 2007. "Bootstrap schemes for time series (in Russian)," Quantile, Quantile, issue 3, pages 37-56, September.
    14. Arie Sherman & Hila Axelrad & Guy Barokas, 2024. "On subjective well‐being and excess strategy to cope with financial‐scarcity problem," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(4), pages 2535-2547, June.
    15. Blanchflower, David G., 2020. "Unhappiness and age," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 461-488.
    16. Macchia, Lucía, 2022. "Pain trends and pain growth disparities, 2009–2021," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    17. Arie Sherman & Tal Shavit & Guy Barokas & Nonna Kushnirovich, 2021. "On the Role of Personal Values and Philosophy of Life in Happiness Technology," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1055-1070, March.
    18. Peltzman, Sam, 2023. "The socio political demography of happiness," Working Papers 331, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    19. O'Connor, Kelsey J. & Graham, Carol, 2019. "Longer, more optimistic, lives: Historic optimism and life expectancy in the United States," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 374-392.
    20. Graham, Carol & Pinto, Sergio, 2021. "The geography of desperation in America: Labor force participation, mobility, place, and well-being," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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