In economics, the market has been understood to steer behavior towards a competitive equilibrium in which all economic actors behave optimally, and in which welfare of society is maximized. Yet many economists have also seen shortcomings to this ideal picture of the market in the form of limited...

This timely and important book presents a unique study of happiness from both economic and political perspectives. It offers an overview of contemporary research on the emergent field of happiness studies and contains contributions by some of the leading figures in the field