Happiness and Productivity

Andrew Oswald, Eugenio Proto and Daniel Sgroi

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: Little is known by economists about how emotions affect productivity. To make persuasive progress, some way has to be found to assign people exogenously to different feelings. We design a randomized trial. In it, some subjects have their happiness levels increased, while others in a control group do not. We show that a rise in happiness leads to greater productivity in a paid piece-rate task. The effect is large; it can be replicated; it is not a reciprocity effect; and it is found equally among males and females. We discuss the implications for economics.

Keywords: Labor productivity; emotions; well-being; happiness; positive affect; experimental economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2008
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-exp, nep-hap, nep-hpe, nep-lab and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

Downloads: (external link)
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/w ... s/2008/twerp_882.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: Happiness and Productivity (2015)
Working Paper: Happiness and Productivity (2013)
Working Paper: Happiness and Productivity (2009)
Working Paper: Happiness and Productivity (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:882

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