Advances in Happiness Research: A Comparative Perspective

✍ Scribed by Toshiaki Tachibanaki (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer Japan
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 356
• Series: Creative Economy
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This edited volume makes a contribution to the literature on happiness research by compiling studies based on cross-national research and from diverse academic disciplines. The book is distinctive in that it contains both theoretical and empirical analyses, investigating relationship between causes of happiness and economic behavior relating to employment, consumption, and saving. Most notably, it is one of the first studies in this subject area that analyzes micro data collected in Europe, US and Japan with information on respondents’ attributes and their economic behavior, as well as in measuring inter-temporal happiness by principal factor analysis. Research findings in this volume shed new light on public policies for a number of areas such as employment, family, social welfare, urban and regional planning, and culture. The book draws on a collaborative research project between five institutions of higher education in France, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Japan that lasted for two years.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xx
Introduction....Pages 1-6
Front Matter....Pages 7-7
Happiness: Research and Policy Considerations....Pages 9-21
The ‘Wicked Problem’ of Wellbeing: Theorising the Prospects for Policy Change....Pages 23-38
An Overview of Intertemporal Measures of Individual Well-Being: Can They Explain Life Satisfaction Better?....Pages 39-54
The Importance of ‘Domain Importance’ for Happiness Economics....Pages 55-73
Adaptation and the Easterlin Paradox....Pages 75-94
Front Matter....Pages 95-95
Comparative Study of Happiness and Inequality in Five Industrialized Countries....Pages 97-118
Happiness, Social Cohesion and Income Inequalities in Britain and Japan....Pages 119-138
Happiness and Employment Status....Pages 139-162
The Impact of Employment System on Feeling of Happiness in Germany and Japan....Pages 163-182
Effects of Paid and Unpaid Overtime Work on Stress, Earnings, and Happiness....Pages 183-203
Front Matter....Pages 205-205
Why Do Japanese Parents and Their Young Adult Children Live Together?....Pages 207-227
Anticipation of Life Satisfaction Before Emigration: Evidence from German Panel Data....Pages 229-244
Does City Size Affect Happiness?....Pages 245-273
Can Work-Life Balance Policies Foster Happiness Within the Family? A Comparison of Traditional Versus New Family Arrangements....Pages 275-296
Accessing Suicidal Ideation from Responses to Queries on Subjective Well-Being....Pages 297-310
Do the Arts and Culture Have a Positive Impact on Happiness? Beyond Methodological Issues....Pages 311-324
Arts and Happiness....Pages 325-337
Back Matter....Pages 339-344

✦ Subjects

Cultural Economics; Behavioral/Experimental Economics; Quality of Life Research