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 …

of others undercuts the tendency for happiness to grow with an increase in one's own income, and happiness remains fairly …, and the greater the shortfall, the less one's happiness. There is thus an asymmetry in the psychological roots of income … evaluations when income is rising vs. falling , and this causes a corresponding asymmetry in the response of happiness to the …

A large empirical literature has debated the U-shaped happiness-age curve. This paper re-examines the relationship … in Europe and the United States. The happiness curve seems to be everywhere. …