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Happiness and public choice

Frey, Bruno S. and Stutzer, Alois. (2010) Happiness and public choice. Public Choice, 144 (3-4). pp. 557-573.

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Official URL: http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A5840069

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Abstract

Measuring individual welfare using data on reported subjective well-being has made great progress. It offers a new way of confronting public choice hypotheses with field data, e.g., with respect to partisan preferences or rents in the public bureaucracy. Insights from public choice also help to assess the role of happiness measures in public policy. We emphasize that maximizing aggregate happiness as a social welfare function neglects incentive problems and political institutions while citizens are reduced to metric stations. The goal of happiness research should be to improve the nature of the processes through which individuals can express their preferences.
Faculties and Departments:06 Faculty of Business and Economics > Departement Wirtschaftswissenschaften > Professuren Wirtschaftswissenschaften > Politische Ökonomie (Stutzer)
UniBasel Contributors:Stutzer, Alois
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:Springer
ISSN:0048-5829
e-ISSN:1573-7101
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
Language:English
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edoc DOI:
Last Modified:22 Sep 2023 13:05
Deposited On:14 Sep 2012 07:09

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