The Easterlin Paradox states that at a point in time happiness varies directly with income, both among and within … nations, but over time the long-term growth rates of happiness and income are not significantly related. The principal reason … vitiates the otherwise positive effect of own-income growth on happiness. Critics of the Paradox mistakenly present the …

In Europe differences among countries in the overall change in happiness since the early 1980s have been due chiefly to … the generosity of welfare state programs - increasing happiness going with increasing generosity and declining happiness … impression that economic growth, social capital, and / or quality of the environment are driving happiness trends, but in the …