What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?
论证主观幸福感可作为个体效用的有效近似，并分析收入、失业、通胀及民主制度、政府分权等制度因素如何影响幸福感，为经济政策与理论提供启示。
In recent years, there has been a steadily increasing interest on the part of economists in happiness research. We argue that reported subjective well-being is a satisfactory empirical approximation to individual utility and that happiness research is able to contribute important insights for economics. We report how the economic variables income, unemployment and inflation affect happiness as well as how institutional factors, in particular the type of democracy and the extent of government decentralization, systematically influence how satisfied individuals are with their life. We discuss some of the consequences for economic policy and for economic theory.