Happiness and Economic Growth - Lessons from Developing Countries (Hardcover)

This volume, arising from a PSE-CEPREMAP-DIMeco conference, includes contributions by the some of the best-known researchers in happiness economics and development economics, including Richard Easterlin, who gave his name to the 'Easterlin paradox' that GDP growth does not improve happiness over the long run. Many chapters underline the difficulty of increasing well-being in developing countries, including China, even in the presence of sustained income growth. This is notably due to the importance of income comparisons to others, adaptation (so that we get used to higher income), and the growing inequality of income. In particular, rank in the local income distribution is shown to be important, creating a beggar-thy-neighbour effect in happiness. Wealth comparisons in China are exacerbated by the gender imbalance, as the competition for brides creates a striking phenomenon of conspicuous consumption on the housing market. Policy has to be aware of these effects. This applies in particular to those who try to use self-reported subjective well-being in order to generate a 'social subjective poverty line', which is a key issue in developing countries. However, the news is not only bad from the point of view of developing countries. One piece of good news is that GDP growth often seems to go hand-in-hand with lower happiness inequality, and thereby reduces the risk of extreme unhappiness.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Studies of Policy Reform
Release date:	November 2014
First published:	2015
Editors:	Andrew E. Clark • Claudia Senik
Dimensions:	226 x 147 x 24mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	292
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-872365-3
Categories:	Books > Business & Economics > Economics > Development economics Books > Business & Economics > Economics > Political economy Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social welfare & social services > Welfare & benefit systems
LSN:	0-19-872365-2
Barcode:	9780198723653

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!