... and the Pursuit of Happiness - Wellbeing and the Role of Government

Bjørnskov, Christian; Boettke, Peter J.; Booth, Philip; Coyne, Christopher J.; De Vos, Marc; Ormerod, Paul; Sacks, Daniel W.; Schwartz, Pedro; Shackleton, J. R.; Snowdon, Chris; Stevenson, Betsey; Wolfers, Justin

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... and the Pursuit of Happiness - Wellbeing and the Role of Government

Institute of Economic Affairs Monographs, Readings 64

GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 12-25

127 Pages Posted: 25 Jan 2012 Last revised: 29 Aug 2013

See all articles by Christian Bjørnskov

Christian Bjørnskov

Aarhus University - Department of Economics and Business; Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN); Center for Political Studies; Institute for Corruption Studies

Peter J. Boettke

George Mason University - Department of Economics; Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Philip Booth

City University London - The Business School

Christopher J. Coyne

George Mason University - Department of Economics

Marc De Vos

Macquarie Law School; Ghent University - Department of Penal Law and Criminology

Daniel W. Sacks

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Business Economics & Public Policy

J. R. Shackleton

Westminster Business School; Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA); University of Buckingham

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Department of Economics; University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; The University of Sydney - Discipline of Economics; Brookings Institution - Economic Studies Program; Peterson Institute for International Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); Kiel Institute for the World Economy

Date Written: January 16, 2012

Abstract

In spite of general reductions in government spending, the prime minister has found room in the government's budget to spend money on a major survey of what makes the British people happy. This will be used, in the prime minister’s own words, to guide government policy towards improvement in general wellbeing rather than improvements in national income.

But is it really true that government policy has always been orientated towards maximizing GDP? Is it true that wellbeing does not increase as income increases? Is it true that more equal societies are happier societies? Can we really improve wellbeing through workplace legislation? Is it right to orientate government policy towards the single aim of increasing aggregate wellbeing across society as a whole? These questions and many more are tackled by some of the leading intellectuals in the field. Overall, this monograph provides a substantial challenge to those who want to put the explicit pursuit of wellbeing at the heart of government policy.

Keywords: happiness economics, wellbeing, government spending, economic theory

JEL Classification: A11, A13

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Bjørnskov, Christian and Boettke, Peter J. and Boettke, Peter J. and Booth, Philip and Coyne, Christopher J. and De Vos, Marc and Ormerod, Paul and Sacks, Daniel W. and Schwartz, Pedro and Shackleton, J. R. and Shackleton, J. R. and Snowdon, Chris and Stevenson, Betsey and Wolfers, Justin, ... and the Pursuit of Happiness - Wellbeing and the Role of Government (January 16, 2012). Institute of Economic Affairs Monographs, Readings 64, GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 12-25, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1991110