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CESifo Economic Studies Advance Access published online on February 17, 2007
CESifo Economic Studies, doi:10.1093/cesifo/ifm002
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Munich. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Perspectives from the Happiness Literature and the Role of New Instruments for Policy Analysis

Bernard M. S. van Praag*

After having been ignored for a long time by economists, happiness is becoming an object of serious research in 21st century economics. In Section 2 we sketch the present status of happiness economics. In Section 3 we consider the practical applicability of happiness economics, retaining the assumption of ordinal individual utilities. In Section 4 we introduce a cardinal utility concept, which seems to us the natural consequence of the happiness economics methodology. In Section 5 we sketch how this approach can lead to a normative approach to policy problems that is admissible from a positivist point of view. Section 6 concludes. (JEL codes: B21, B41, D63, I31, I38)

Key Words: Happiness economics • subjective well-being • equivalence scales • economic policy


* Bernard M.S. van Praag is affiliated to University of Amsterdam, e-mail: B.M.S.vanPraag{at}uva.nl


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