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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Tom Lane
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
This article reviews research on the relationship between happiness (subjective wellbeing) and economic behaviour. I describe how experimental and non-experimental methods have been used, across the social sciences, to investigate how happiness drives, and is driven by, particular behavioural tendencies. I consider interpersonal behaviour (selfishness, trust and reciprocity) and individual behaviour (risk and time preferences). Regarding interpersonal behaviour, a general conclusion is that happiness results from pro-social behaviour. Happiness negatively correlates with selfishness and positively correlates with trust; in both cases there is stronger evidence that the behaviour is a cause of happiness than a consequence of it. Individuals also gain happiness from inflicting costly punishment on those who have harmed them, although being happy reduces the degree to which people are willing to dole out such punishment in the first place. Regarding individual behaviour, the relationship between happiness and risk preferences remains unclear despite a large body of research on the topic, while there is evidence that happiness affects time preferences by reducing impatience. In all cases, I draw distinctions between the long- and short- term relationships between happiness and behaviour.
Author(s): Lane T
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Year: 2017
Volume: 68
Pages: 62-78
Print publication date: 01/06/2017
Online publication date: 05/04/2017
Acceptance date: 03/04/2017
Date deposited: 05/09/2023
ISSN (print): 2214-8043
ISSN (electronic): 2214-8051
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2017.04.001
DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2017.04.001
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