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The use of happiness research for public policy

Frey, Bruno ; Stutzer, Alois

In: Social Choice and Welfare, 2012, vol. 38, no. 4, p. 659-674

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    Titre
    • The use of happiness research for public policy
    Auteur
    • Frey, Bruno. University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
    • Stutzer, Alois. Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Basel, Peter Merian-Weg 6, 4002, Basel, Switzerland
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Classification
    • Sciences sociales
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:321585
    Summary
    Research on happiness tends to follow a "benevolent dictator” approach where politicians pursue people's happiness. This paper takes an antithetic approach based on the insights of public choice theory. First, we inquire how the results of happiness research may be used to improve the choice of institutions. Second, we show that the policy approach matters for the choice of research questions and the kind of knowledge happiness research aims to provide. Third, we emphasize that there is no shortcut to an optimal policy maximizing some happiness indicator or social welfare function since governments have an incentive to manipulate this indicator