The welfare economics of infectious happiness

Richard Povey

Economics Letters, 2015, vol. 133, issue C, 1-3

Abstract: We summarise evidence for infectious happiness, exploring implications for a number of welfare issues: labour oversupply due to relative income effects, altruistic donation, public goods contribution. Awareness of infectiousness is welfare-improving, but not first-best optimal. Government intervention remains potentially beneficial.

Keywords: Income; Happiness; Infectiousness; Donation; Labour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B5 D1 D6 H4 J2 N3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:133:y:2015:i:c:p:1-3

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2015.05.006

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