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Cited by 1,072

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 72 of the 72 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox

Open access
Stevenson, Betsey, Wolfers, Justin·2008·National Bureau of Economic Research
DOI 10.3386/w14282
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Abstract

The "Easterlin paradox" suggests that there is no link between a society's economic development and its average level of happiness.We re-assess this paradox analyzing multiple rich datasets spanning many decades.Using recent data on a broader array of countries, we establish a clear positive link between average levels of subjective well-being and GDP per capita across countries, and find no evidence of a satiation point beyond which wealthier countries have no further increases in subjective well-being.We show that the estimated relationship is consistent across many datasets and is similar to the relationship between subject well-being and income observed within countries.Finally, examining the relationship between changes in subjective well-being and income over time within countries we find economic growth associated with rising happiness.Together these findings indicate a clear role for absolute income and a more limited role for relative income comparisons in determining happiness.

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Metadata

Authors
Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J.
Venue
National Bureau of Economic Research
Publisher
National Bureau of Economic Research
Published
2008-08
DOI
10.3386/w14282
OpenAlex
W3121647019
Cited by
1,072
References
72
Type
report
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.3386/w14282
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Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. (2008). Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w14282

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