We posit that feeling constrained impedes happiness. Under this view, utility and happiness maximization yield the same optimal choices in a variety of standard economic decision problems, but utility and happiness can move in opposite directions in response to exogenous shocks. Our theory (i)...

The ongoing problem of urban poverty has resisted almost all attempts at finding a solution. This paper proposes that by mobilizing the available labor in a poor urban neighborhood, poverty can be alleviated. This will require a motivated community organizer along with community leaders who...

Written for the Chapman Law Review Symposium on “What Can Law & Economics Teach Us About the Corporate Social Responsibility Debate?,” this Article applies the lessons of public choice theory to examine corporate social responsibility. The Article adopts a broad definition of corporate...

This study explores the relationship between self-reported well-being and recycling rates. The estimates are based on Britain using data from the British Household Panel Survey. The effects of recycling rates on individuals’ happiness are estimated. Two approaches are followed. The first...

This paper provides insight on the relationship between obesity and happiness. Using the latest available cross sectional data from Germany (GSOEP 2006), UK (BHPS 2005), and Australia (HILDA 2007). We examine whether there is evidence on the impact of overweight on subjective well being. The...

Sorting of people on the labor market not only assures the most productive use of valuable skills but also generates individual utility gains if people experience an optimal match between job characteristics and their preferences. Based on individual data on subjective well-being it is possible...

We analyze data on happiness for Argentina and Uruguay. The focus is put on self-reported health status as a key aspect in increasing happiness levels. Then, the probabilty of being happy is estimated by probit models. Results show that the main relationship is between happiness and health...

There are strong two-way links between parent and child happiness (life satisfaction), even for 'children' who have grown up, moved to their own home and partnered themselves. German panel evidence shows that transmission of (un)happiness from parents to children is partly due to transmission of...

Recent happiness studies by economists, sociologist and psychologists have produced many important new approaches and attitudes to focus less on objective variables and more on subjective well-being (SWB). Studies investigating life satisfaction (as a proxy of SWB) have identified strong...

People not only obtain utility from actual outcomes but also from the conditionswhich lead to these outcomes. The paper proposes an economic concept of this notion ofprocedural utility. Preferences beyond outcome can be manifold. We distinguish proceduralutility people get from institutions as...