In recent years, the idea that public policy should maximize satisfaction, happiness or some other non-material measure of well-being has received a great deal of attention. In this paper, I conduct an empirical study of the determinants of subjective life satisfaction (SLS) in the European...

This empirical study investigates if people's concerns about the euro currency affect their life satisfaction. A minority of very concerned individuals appear to be unhappy, which cannot be explained by personality or other observable factors typically affecting well-being. As a novelty, this...

The objective of this paper is to explore various relationships between self-reported life satisfaction and state public finance in the U.S. The paper focuses on both government expenditure and revenue (especially tax) structures. This paper is the first of its kind to examine the relationship...

Numerous people in Germany, including politicians and researchers, believe that the gross domestic product (GDP) is an outdated indicator of a society's prosperity. Therefore, at the end of 2010, the German Bundestag, the federal parliament, established a study commission (Enquete-Kommission)...

More than just a few politicians and scientists see an imbalance in policy’s primary orientation toward economic goals, especially the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In view of scientific and public discourses on prosperity, this report analyzes how voting-eligible Germans, the electorate,...

This article comments on the role of empirical subjective well-being research in public policy within a constitutional, procedural perspective of government and state. It rejects the idea that, based on the promises of the measurement, we should adopt a new policy perspective that is oriented...

There is widespread concern, especially in certain feminist circles, that a market-oriented economic system, or capitalism, disfavors women. This could take many forms, such as lower wages for the same type of work, reduced career opportunities, disparities in ownership and the upholding of...

Early democratic theorists argued that one purpose of a democratic government is to increase the happiness of its citizens. However, all democracies are not equal. Some democracies through their institutional arrangements create broader representation to their citizens, while others reduce...

Elections constitute the essential element of democracy, yet surprisingly little is known about their immediate consequences for individual well-being. Cross-country empirical evidence is particularly absent for the campaign period leading up to elections. While elections as a process allow...

Results of life satisfaction regressions for more than 91,000 individuals are used to investigate how the macroeconomic crisis of 2008-2009 has affected subjective well-being (SWB) in 30 OECD countries. In a number of countries, the effect of the crisis on a representative person's SWB is of a...