Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T08:42:25.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

PUBLIC POLICY AND THE CONDITIONAL VALUE OF HAPPINESS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2013

Jan-Willem van der Rijt
Jan-Willem van der Rijt*
Affiliation:
University of Bayreuth, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the increasingly popular view that new insights from the science of subjective well-being (SSWB) should play a prominent role in the determination of public policy. Though there are instrumental reasons for caring about societal happiness too, these political aspirations of the SSWB appear to be mostly intrinsically motivated. As the intrinsic value of happiness is endorsed across the political–philosophical spectrum, there is some initial plausibility to the expectation that it should not be too difficult to develop intrinsically motivated policies that can count on widespread support. This paper argues, however, that intrinsically motivated policies based on SSWB findings will always be highly controversial. This is because, although happiness is widely held to be intrinsically valuable, it is usually not deemed unconditionally valuable. By exploring the policy implications of three different views of this conditionality – happiness as a fitting response to the state of the world, authenticity, and merit – it is shown that different views of the conditionality of the intrinsic value of happiness have widely diverging policy implications, which greatly undermines the political aspirations of the SSWB.

Type
Articles
Information
Economics & Philosophy , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , November 2013 , pp. 381 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Argyle, M. 1999. Causes and correlates of happiness. In Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology, ed. Kahneman, D., Diener, E. and Schwarz, N., 353–373. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Barrotta, P. 2008. Why economists should be unhappy with the economics of happiness. Economics and Philosophy 24: 145–165.Google Scholar
Benjamin, D., Heffetz, O., Kimball, M. and Rees-Jones, A.. 2010. Do people seek to maximize happiness? Evidence from new surveys. NBER Working Paper Series 16489.Google Scholar
Bok, D. 2010. The Politics of Happiness. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cahn, S. and Vitrano, C., ed. 2008. Happiness. Classic and Contemporary Readings in Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Diener, E. and Seligman, M.. 2004. Beyond money. Toward an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 5: 1–31.Google Scholar
Diener, E. and Suh, E.. 1999. National differences in subjective well-being. In Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology, ed. Kahneman, D., Diener, E. and Schwarz, N., 434–450. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Diener, E., Lucas, R., Schimmack, U. and Helliwell, J.. 2009. Well-Being for Public Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Eid, M. and Larsen, R., ed. 2008. The Science of Subjective Well-Being. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Elster, J. 1983. Sour Grapes: Studies in the Subversion of Rationality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Feldman, F. 1992. Confrontations with the Reaper. A Philosophical Study of the Nature and Value of Death. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Frey, B. 2008. Happiness. A Revolution in Economics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Frey, B. and Stutzer, A.. 2007. ‘Should national happiness be maximized?’ Institute for Empirical Research in Economics University of Zurich Working Paper Series 306.Google Scholar
Gilbert, D. 2006. Stumbling on Happiness. London: Harper Perennial.Google Scholar
Griffin, J. 1986. Well-Being. Its Meaning, Measurement and Moral Importance. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Guyer, P. 2000. Freedom as the inner value of the world. In Kant on Freedom, Law and Happiness, 96–125. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Halsema, F. 2008. Geluk! Voorbij de Hyperconsumptie, Haast en Hufterigheid. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Bert Bakker.Google Scholar
Hausman, D. 2010. Hedonism and welfare economics. Economics and Philosophy 26: 321–344.Google Scholar
Hausman, D. 2012. Preference, Value, Choice, and Welfare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Haybron, D. 2008. The Pursuit of Unhappiness. The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, T. 2002. Happiness and human flourishing. In Human Welfare and Moral Worth. Kantian Perspectives, 164–200. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. 2009. Democracy and happiness: what causes what? In Happiness, Economics and Politics. Towards a Multi-Disciplinary Approach, ed. Dutt, A. and Radcliff, B., 256–270. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R. 2010. Faith and freedom: traditional and modern ways to happiness. In International Differences in Well-Being, ed. Diener, E., Helliwell, J. and Kahneman, D., 351–397. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. 2002. Happiness as a rational end. In Kant's Metaphysics of Morals. Interpretative Essays, ed. Timmons, M., 317–330. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kagan, S. 1992. The limits of well-being. Social Philosophy and Policy 9: 169–189.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D. and Krueger, A. 2006. ‘Developments in the Measurement of Subjective Wellbeing’ The Journal of Economic Perspectives 20: 3–24.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D. and Sugden, R. 2005. ‘Experienced Utility as a Standard of Policy Evaluation’ Environmental and Resource Economics 32: 161–181.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D., Wakker, P. and Sarin, R.. 1997. Back to Bentham? Explorations of experienced utility. Quarterly Journal of Economics 112: 375–405.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D., Diener, E. and Schwarz, N., ed. 1999. Well-Being. The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Kant, I. 1996. The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant: Practical Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kant, I. 1998. Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason and Other Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kelman, M. 2005. Hedonic Psychology and the Ambiguities of ‘Welfare’. Philosophy and Public Affairs 33: 391–412.Google Scholar
Layard, R. 2005. Happiness: Lessons from a New Science. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Nozick, R. 1989. Happiness. In The Examined Life. Philosophical Meditations, 99–117. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. and Sen, A., ed. 1993. The Quality of Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. 2010. Who is the happy warrior? Philosophy poses questions to psychology. In Law and Happiness, ed. Posner, E. and Sunste, C.in, 81–114. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Pacek, A. 2009. Politics and happiness: an empirical ledger. In Happiness, Economics and Politics. Towards a Multi-Disciplinary Approach, Dutt, A. and Radcliff, B., 231–255. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Pavot, W. 2008. The assessment of subjective well-being: successes and shortfalls. In The Science of Subjective Well-Being, ed. Eid, M. and Larsen, R., 124–140. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Pojman, L. 2001. Justice as desert. Queensland University Law and Justice Journal 1: 88–109Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971/1999. A Theory of Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1982/1999. Social Unity and Primary Goods. In Collected Papers, 359–387. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Raz, J. 2004. The role of well-being. Philosophical Perspectives 18: 269–294.Google Scholar
Sen, A. 1987. On Ethics and Economics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Stiglitz, J., Sen, A. and Fitoussi, J. 2010. Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr.Google Scholar
Sumner, L. 1996. Welfare, Happiness and Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thaler, R. and Sunstein, C.. 2008. Nudge. Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Wolf, S. 1997. Happiness and meaning: two aspects of the good life. Social Philosophy and Policy 14: 207–225.Google Scholar