Happiness Quantified: A Satisfaction Calculus Approach - Softcover

Van Praag, Bernard; Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199226148 ISBN 13: 9780199226146

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008

Synopsis

How do we measure happiness? This important and long-awaited book presents a new and unified approach to the analysis of subjective satisfaction and income evaluation. Drawing on empirical analyses of German, British, Dutch, and Russian data, it develops new methodology to establish a model of well-being which includes satisfaction with life as a whole and with various domains of life. This method is applied to study individual and collective norms, to construct family-equivalence scales, to estimate health damages, compensation for externalities, and the construction of tax tariffs, and to define subjective inequalities with respect to well-being, income, and other domains of life. Written for a wide readership of social scientists, the book presents a theoretical and empirical breakthrough into a new and fruitful methodology in the social sciences.

About this title

About the Author

B. M. S. van Praag studied econometrics at the University of Amsterdam where he defended his dissertation on "Individual Welfare and the Theory of Consumer Behaviour" cum laude in 1968. Between 1969 and 1992 he held consecutive positions as Professor at the Free University of Brussels, Associate Professor at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Professor of Economics at the University of Leiden, and Professor at Erasmus University. In 1992 he was appointed Professor in Applied Economic Research at the University of Amsterdam and Managing Director of the Foundation for Economic Research. In 2000 he became University Professor at the University of Amsterdam. He was the founding president of the European Society for Population Economics, and has been co-editor of the Journal of Population Economics, a member of the Dutch Social Economic Council, and a member of the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell graduated in Economics at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in 1994. In 1997 she received a Fulbright scholarship to do graduate studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) (Troy, NY, USA), where she obtained an M.S. in Economics and did research and teaching. In 2003 she obtained a PhD from the Faculty of Economics and Econometrics at the University of Amsterdam and the Tinbergen Institute, and then another PhD from RPI. She works for the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Review

`The book constitutes an important contribution to the economics of happiness, in particular because of its rigourous econometric techniques. Its approach will be appealing to economists and all those social scientists interested in quantitative analysis;'
Mariano Rojas, Journal of Happiness Studies

`Many of its chapters are indeed at the frontier of economics, as they deal with health, marriage, gender, social comparisons, norms, and the dynamics of satisfaction. Accordingly, they always hinge on the intuitions of "sister disciplines" such as psychology and sociology. Doing so, they
show an example of how multi-disciplinarity can be constructive and enrich economic understanding.'
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization

`The Leyden School, headed by Bernard M.S. Van Praag, has pioneered in the economic analysis of subjective testimony. This volume assembles and synthesizes much of this valuable body of work. It is characterized by the theoretical and methodological rigor typical of the School, and is rich in
its public policy applications.'
Richard Easterlin, University of Southern California

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0199226148
• ISBN 13: 9780199226146
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 392