Economic growth and subjective well-being: reassessing the Easterlin paradox

Arbeitspapier

The Easterlin paradox” suggests that there is no link between a society's economic development and its average level of happiness. We re-assess this paradox analyzing multiple rich datasets spanning many decades. Using recent data on a broader array of countries, we establish a clear positive link between average levels of subjective well-being and GDP per capita across countries, and find no evidence of a satiation point beyond which wealthier countries have no further increases in subjective well-being. We show that the estimated relationship is consistent across many datasets and is similar to the relationship between subject well-being and income observed within countries. Finally, examining the relationship between changes in subjective well-being and income over time within countries we find economic growth associated with rising happiness. Together these findings indicate a clear role for absolute income and a more limited role for relative income comparisons in determining happiness.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 2394

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: Happiness ; subjective well-being ; Easterlin Paradox ; life satisfaction ; economic growth ; well-being-income gradient ; hedonic treadmill ; Lebenszufriedenheit ; Lebensstandard ; Wirtschaftswachstum ; Sozialprodukt ; Lebensqualität ; Welt

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Stevenson, Betsey ; Wolfers, Justin
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2008

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/26439
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET