This paper analyses whether the aggregation of individual happiness scores to a National Happiness Index can still be trusted once governments have proclaimed their main objective to be the pursuit – or even maximization – of this National Happiness Index. The answer to this investigation is...

Governments have paid great attention to the results of happiness research. In many countries, the object of government policy is no longer taken to be development in terms of raising GNP. Their focus has shifted to a National Index of Happiness. This paper analyses whether such an aggregate...

Happiness research has been a great success by yielding new and important insights. These results are often used in a technocratic manner: governments should maximize, or at least raise, the subjective well-being of the population measured by the national happiness index. Yet the government has...

Policymakers and business leaders often use peer comparison information—showing people how their behavior compares to that of their peers—to motivate a range of behaviors. Despite their widespread use, the potential impact of peer comparison interventions on recipients’ well-being is...