Getting Innovation Right: The Key to Happiness and Flourishing?

David E. Hojman ()
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David E. Hojman: University of Liverpool Management School

Homo Oeconomicus: Journal of Behavioral and Institutional Economics, 2016, vol. 33, issue 4, No 2, 316 pages

Abstract: Abstract Correlations between happiness and other variables, including innovation, are possibly dubious and may be ultimately misleading. Quality-of-life enhancing innovation is a social phenomenon, and much more than just a technological breakthrough. It typically involves institutional, cultural, organizational, managerial and other changes. It is the social phenomenon, rather than the technological breakthrough, or in addition to it, which makes the economy more dynamic and lives richer. Interesting examples include the distinction between the invention of the airplane and the development of mass tourism between northern and southern Europe. But there are many other examples, from access to pharmaceuticals in poor countries to wine making, miners' rescue and earthquake damage prevention. Failure to see the difference between the technological breakthrough and the social phenomenon may lead to the wrong conclusions.

Keywords: Non-technological innovation; The good life; Happiness correlations; Institutions; Culture; Organization; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D6 I31 O3 O35 O43 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1007/s41412-016-0016-1

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