When economic growth improves subjective well-being

Francesco Sarracino, Martijn Burger, Chiara Peroni, Kelsey J. O'Connor, Nikolaos Rigas, Giulia Slater and Fengyu Wu

No 1751, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: This paper provides updated evidence on the possibility of a virtuous cycle that, by prioritizing subjective well-being in decision making, would lead to socially and environmentally sustainable economies where individuals can thrive. We first argue that economic growth does not guarantee better lives for individuals. Our policy efforts should instead concentrate on promoting well-being directly and establishing conditions that allow economic growth to enhance well-being. We then introduce neo-humanism, a framework to prioritize well-being in decision making, and review the key evidence linking social relations, sustainability, and economic performance. In addition, we provide new evidence on defensive consumption, introduce a new measure of performance - well-being productivity, and provide some examples of policies targeting subjective well-being directly. The main implication is that public policy should prioritize well-being in decision making, rather than focusing on growth in the hope that its benefits will eventually trickle down onto people.

Keywords: subjective well-being; economic growth; Easterlin paradox; social trust; inequality; social capital; public policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D11 D60 I31 O47 Q56 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/340900/1/GLO-DP-1751.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1751

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().