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Explaining happiness trends in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Richard A. Easterlin

    (a Department of Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90007;; b National Academy of Sciences, Irvine, CA 92617;; c Institute for Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn 53113, Germany;)

  • Kelsey J. O’Connor

    (d STATEC Research (Luxembourg National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies), Luxembourg-Kirchberg L-1468, Luxembourg;; e School of Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2092, South Africa)

Abstract

Over the past 5 decades, happiness has emerged as a subject of social science research and a potential goal of public policy. But how can a country’s happiness be increased? On this, there is a conflict between a number of policy alternatives—promote economic growth, increase social capital, improve the environment, and expand welfare state programs. Each of these has point-of-time (cross-section) evidence supporting its claim, but there are very few long-term, time-series studies. This article presents newly available time-series evidence that supports the importance of welfare state policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard A. Easterlin & Kelsey J. O’Connor, 2022. "Explaining happiness trends in Europe," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119(37), pages 2210639119-, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:119:y:2022:p:e2210639119
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    Blog mentions

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    1. No title
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2023-02-27 18:52:29

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    Cited by:

    1. David G Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2024. "Were COVID and the Great Recession well-being reducing?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(11), pages 1-34, November.
    2. Rui Li & Yueqin Hu, 2026. "Identifying Key Predictors of Subjective Well-Being across 92 Countries: A Machine Learning Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 1-38, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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