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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2026–10–05
three papers chosen by Viviana Di Giovinazzo, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca |
| By: | Sriram Balasubramanian; Mr. Paul Cashin |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the origins and evolving use of the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) in the Kingdom of Bhutan, and the relationship between measured well-being and macroeconomic indicators across four decades of data. The paper incorporates the 2022 GNH Survey, alongside substantially updated macroeconomic data capturing Bhutan’s experience through the COVID-19 pandemic, and the launch of its ambitious 13th Five-Year Plan (2024–2029). The evidence continues to show that Bhutan’s rapid increase in national income remains only weakly associated with improvements in measured happiness—a pattern that is suggestive of the Easterlin Paradox. The updated GNH index indicates continued progress in well-being alongside sustained economic growth. Drawing on the literature linking cultural norms to economic development, we argue that Bhutan’s cultural endowment is on balance an asset for its growth prospects. GNH exemplifies how a culture-neutral well-being measure becomes more effective for policymaking when assimilated to relevant local cultural norms and values. |
| Keywords: | Gross National Happiness; GDP; Bhutan; Easterlin Paradox; well-being; development economics; cultural norms |
| Date: | 2026–09–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2026/192 |
| By: | Haifang Huang (University of Alberta); John Helliwell (University of British Columbia) |
| Abstract: | We ask whether housing unaffordability belongs in the misery index, pairing national house prices with the Gallup World Poll for up to 57 economies. Worsening affordability is robustly associated with lower average Cantril life evaluation: a ten percent rise in house prices, holding per-capita income fixed, weighs as heavily as a one-to-two percentage-point rise in unemployment. Housing belongs in the index. Equity prices, in contrast, carry little weight. The burden appears independently in the Integrated Values Surveys, which measure life satisfaction instead. In Gallup, the young and the middle-aged carry similar penalties, and even seniors are not completely spared. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being; house price; misery index |
| JEL: | I31 R31 E24 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:albaec:023641 |
| By: | Kankaras, Milos |
| Abstract: | International rankings publish precise country positions. We ask which comparisons the evidence behind five of them supports, by reproducing published tables, optimising weights, applying multiplicity-adjusted rank inference and two source checks, within a framework separating invalid measurement, insufficient validation, normative trade-offs, underrepresentation of uncertainty and misleading communication. In every programme the adjacent ordering is unsupported, each for a different reason: Report Card 19 trades off dimensions in all 35 adjacent pairs; World Happiness Report countries move a median of 30 places when affect replaces life evaluation; 23 of 38 countries can lead the Better Life Index under unrestricted weights; retrospective rescoring moves Global Health Security Index countries a median of seven places within one year; only 4 of 80 adjacent PISA pairs are distinguishable. Broad contrasts survive throughout. Two unrepresented uncertainties are documented: rotated administration behind Report Card 19's social-skills indicator, and unlinked assessment vintages behind the Human Capital Index. |
| Date: | 2026–09–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:mbgxs_v1 |