Happiness and Growth the World Over: Time Series Evidence on the Happiness-Income Paradox

By Richard A. Easterlin, Laura Angelescu. Social Science Research Network, 2009

224 citations recorded by the source corpus.

There is no significant relationship between the improvement in happiness and the long term rate of growth of GDP per capita. This is true for three groups of countries analyzed separately ? 17 developed, 9 developing, and 11 transition ? and also for the 37 countries taken together. Time series studies reporting a positive relationship confuse a short-term positive association between the growth of happiness and income, arising from fluctuations in macroeconomic conditions, with the long-term relationship, which is nil.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fe54486160181e206222f6487c68117c93471095

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Citations in the corpus

Subjective Well-Being in China, 2005-2010: The Role of Relative Income, Gender and Location (2015, background): “For instance, Easterlin and Angelescu (2009) find no significant relationship between improvement in happiness and the long-term rate of growth of GDP per capita evenwhen analysis is restricted to 9 developing and 11 transition economies which included China.”
The Easterlin illusion: economic growth does go with greater happiness (2014, background): “He also added that in the long run higher rates of economic growth do result in proportionally greater happiness (Easterlin and Angelescu, 2009; Easterlin et al., 2010).”
The Dark Side of Chinese Growth: Declining Social Capital and Well-Being in Times of Economic Boom (2015, background): “Some scholars have confirmed the paradox, and clarified that, in the short run, economic growth and well-being are associated, whereas in the long-run this positive relationship vanishes (Easterlin & Angelescu, 2009; Easterlin, Angelescu, Switek, Sawangfa, & Zweig, 2010).”
Economic Migration and Happiness: Comparing Immigrants’ and Natives’ Happiness Gains From Income (2011, background): “Graham 2009). But they also acknowledge that ‘‘[t]he time-series part of our analysis [demonstrating a positive longitudinal relationship] is necessarily only suggestive…’’ (( 2008):29), and Easterlin and Angelescu (2009) in a direct response assert that a time-series analysis demonstrates that th”
Measuring objective and subjective well-being: dimensions and data sources (2020, background): “[271]), which capture the worldwide happiness; the Gallup-Healthways Well-being index (e.”
Happiness Matters: Productivity Gains from Subjective Well-Being (2019, background): “Additionally, at the aggregate level, a number of economic studies showed that well-being trends differ significantly across countries and that changes in well-being are recorded also over short periods of time (Easterlin and Angelescu 2009; Sacks et al. 2012).”