What do happy people choose: rapid economic growth or stable economy?

Beja Jr., Edsel L. (2012): What do happy people choose: rapid economic growth or stable economy?

Abstract

How SWB affects individual states, outcomes, or decisions is well established in the literature, but how it affects macroeconomic states, outcomes, or decisions remains an open empirical question. This paper focuses on the public policy issue of economic progress defined as either rapid economic growth or stable economy. Results indicate a negative relationship between high SWB and choice for rapid economic growth or stable economy. This conclusion holds for people in the upper-income and middle-income countries, but not so for people in the low-income countries. In fact, results suggest that people in the low-income countries attend less to either rapid economic growth or stable economy regardless of their SWB.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Happiness, subjective well-being; economic policy
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D70 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I31 - General Welfare, Well-Being; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B50 - General; D - Microeconomics > D0 - General > D00 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E6 - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook > E60 - General

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