ECONOMIC GROWTH AND HAPPINESS

Teodor Sedlarski

Yearbook of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Sofia University, 2020, vol. 18, issue 1, 281-301

Abstract: Would we be happier if we were richer? This article contributes to the discussion in the economic literature summarizing the findings in the modern research field of happiness economics. It analyzes the effects of conspicuous consumption, status comparisons, adaptation, heightened expectations and the burden of widened choice on the subjective well-being in growing economies. All of the former tend to hamper the increase of happiness of developed societies. But isn't it exactly the enhanced human happiness that is the ultimate goal of economic progress? The insights from happiness economics refocus economists' attention yet again to the discipline's fundamentals and the appropriate means for achieving its basic purpose.

Keywords: relative income; conspicuous consumption; social status; positional goods; status competition; adaptation level theory; hedonic adaptation; hedonic treadmill; interdependent preferences. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B40 B52 D01 D02 D04 D63 D91 H23 H30 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sko:yrbook:v:18:y:2020:i:1:p:281-301

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