To maximize happiness, one could either improve desired external outcomes (e.g., wealth) or optimize the relationship between desired external outcome and happiness without improving the outcome per se. Economics focuses on the first method. The present chapter advocates a science about the...

As a resource-allocation method, free competition is generally considered more efficient and fairer than binding assignment, yet individuals’ hedonic experiences in these different resource-allocation conditions are largely ignored. Using a minimalistic experimental simulation procedure, we...