Economia e felicit?: quali implicazioni per la politica economica

Economia e felicit?: quali implicazioni per la politica economica (by Ferruccio Bresolin) - ABSTRACT: Recently, great emphasis has been attached to the psychological aspects of human economic behaviour showing the limits of pure rationality in economic science (A psychologist like Kahnemann won the Nobel Prize in Economics). Traditional economists used to study individual wellbeing on utility basis and utility function has been linked to the disposal of goods and consumption. Easterlin was the first to emphasize that happiness is the aim of men and that only in particular situations is it linked with income and wealth. So the problem is: given that the pursuit of happiness is an inalienable right, comparable to life and freedom, what can the policy maker do to reach this aim? Which are the implications for economic policies considering this fundamental need of people? The aim of this article is to offer some reflections on this topic after a critical review of the limits of the tools of Economic Theory in explaining the inexistence of a direct correlation between income levels and happiness in developed countries.