Happiness: Lessons from a New Science

Draws on a range of scientific research in such fields as psychology, sociology, and applied economics that reveals how everyday people are no happier than they were fifty years ago in spite of higher wages, in a study that seeks to define happiness while identifying its causes and the means that are available to everyday individuals to pursue and acquire happiness. 40,000 first printing.

Richard Layard is one of Britain's best-known economists and a leading world expert on unemployment and inequality. He runs Europe's leading economics research center within the London School of Economics. He worked for the British government as an economic adviser from 1997 to 2001, and in 2000 he became a member of the House of Lords. He is the author of a number of academic books.