Table of Contents

Introduction - Why Study Happiness? ; 1. The Economics of Happiness ; 2. The Happiness and Income Debate: Substance, Methodology, and the Easterlin Paradox ; 3. The Determinants of Happiness around the World ; 4. Does Happiness Matter? ; 5. Happiness and Health across Countries and Cultures ; 6. Economic Growth, Crises, Inequality, and More ; 7. Adapting to Good and Bad Fortune: How Friends, Freedom, Crime, and Corruption affect Happiness ; 8. Happiness around the World: Lessons - and Questions - for Policy

About the Author

Carol Graham is Senior Fellow and Charles Robinson Chair at the Brookings Institution and College Park Professor at the University of Maryland. She served as Vice President and Director of Governance Studies at Brookings from 2002-2004 and as a Special Advisor to the Deputy Managing Director of the IMF. She was a Special Adviser to the Executive Vice President of the Inter-American Development Bank while on a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship, and has consulted at a number of international financial institutions. Her research has received support from the Hewlett, Tinker, and MacArthur Foundations, as well as the Office of the Chief Economist of the World Bank. She is the author of numerous books and articles on poverty, inequality, and social welfare policy. Graham has an A.B. from Princeton University, an M.A. from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Ph.D. from Oxford University.

Reviews

Well-written...[Graham's] lucid text is an easy read... Happiness Around the World offers a welcome, thought-provoking, and engaging snapshot of this emerging field. Prashanth Ak, Science offers a timely and comprehensive review of many of the debates that underpin the economics of happiness...Graham's book is an excellent resource in which debates around happiness are explored. Laura Hyman, Czech Sociological Review Vol 48