A Ciencia da Felicidade 2

"Neoclassical economic theory assumes utility functions that are increasing in the amounts of leisure and various other goods and services consumed. In typical models, an increase in income or a fall in prices implies an unequivocal gain in welfare. This claim seems reasonable enough on its face. But is there in fact any direct evidence that supports it? In Happiness & Economics, the Swiss economists Bruno Frey and Alois Stutzer draw on the findings of psychologists and other behavioral scientists in an attempt to answer this question among many others. Their focus is on the burgeoning literature on human happiness, or subjective well-being. This has been an active literature for several decades, but one that has been thus far largely ignored by economists. Frey and Stutzer argue persuasively that many of its findings merit close attention by economists. Economists’ lack of enthusiasm may be explained in part by their natural skepticism regarding the self-reports most often used by psychologists to measure human happiness. The specific measure used most often comes from surveys in which people are asked to report whether they are: a) very happy; b) fairly happy; or c) not happy. Even in the United States, where it might be thought advantageous to portray oneself as very happy, many respondents say they are only fairly happy, and others confess to being not happy. Individual responses tend to be consistent from one survey to the next. Other happiness measures take a somewhat different tack, asking people to indicate the extent to which they agree with statements like ‘‘When good things happen to me, it strongly affects me’’ or ‘‘When I’m doing well at something, I love to keep at it.’’ Although many people register strong agreement with such statements, others do not. With remarkable consistency, those in the former group rate themselves as very happy in response to survey questions, while those in the latter group tend to describe themselves as not happy."