Policy makers seeking to enhance well-being are faced with a choice of possible measures that may offer contrasting views about how well an individual's life is going. We suggest that choice of well-being measure should be based on three general criteria: (1) the measure must be conceptually...

In order to value non-market goods, economists estimate individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for these goods using revealed or stated preference methods. We compare these conventional approaches with subjective well-being (SWB), which is based on individuals' ratings of their happiness or life...

This paper provides an introduction to a collection of articles concerning the relevance of Amartya Sen's work, the capability approach and related ethical claims, to health-care rationing.

This paper discusses the moral relevance of accounting for various personal characteristics when prioritising between groups of patients. After a review of the results from empirical studies, we discuss the ethical reasons which might explain--and justify--the views expressed in these studies....

It is well known that different methods of eliciting the valuations attached to various health states, such as the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the Time Trade Off (TTO), yield different results. This study gathers qualitative data from a group of 43 respondents who had previously taken part...

Using a longitudinal household panel dataset in the United Kingdom, where most interviews are conducted in September each year, we are able to show that the attacks of September 11 resulted in lower levels of subjective well-being for those interviewed after that date in 2001 compared to those...

What causes us to vote and what do we get out of it? We approach these questions using data on voting and subjective well-being (SWB) from a large household panel dataset in the UK. We find some evidence that SWB can affect voting intention but no evidence that the results of three recent...

This paper discusses the moral relevance of accounting for various personal characteristics when prioritising between groups of patients. After a review of the results from empirical studies, we discuss the ethical reasons which might explain – and justify – the views expressed in these...

There is increasing interest in the "economics of happiness", reflected by the number of articles that are appearing in mainstream economics journals that consider subjective well-being (SWB) and its determinants. This paper provides a detailed review of this literature. It focuses on papers...

The aim of the current explorative study is to define and test a process for the valuation of the benefits associated with the prevention of non-fatal work-related accidents and ill health. A relativities approach is adopted, and monetary values for the prevention of three forms of work-related...