Doubts about the intrinsic value of economic performance are nothing new (T.Scitovsky, J.Galbraith). The paper starts with a criticism of „catching up“ models and a „puzzle“ of East Germans dissatisfaction with a rise of welfare after the Berlin wall’s fall. Author provides a sketch of...

The author raises doubts about a sense of "catching up" and an idolatry of HDP´s growth. His argumentation is based on the longitudinal international research of the link "economics-happiness" at the frontier between economics and psychology. The rationality of economic science "more is better"...

The author undertakes in his essay a risky experiment as he tries to look at the present-time-economic-transformations in the view of the great thinker of 18th century, Dr. Bernard Mandeville, who famed by his Fable of the Bees, or Private Vices and Public Benefits. The philosophy of Mandeville,...