Happiness and health: lessons--and questions--for public policy.
This paper reviews the happiness-health relationship from an economics perspective, highlighting the role of adaptation. People's expectations for health standards influence their reported health and associated happiness, a finding that roughly mirrors the Easterlin paradox in income and happiness. Research on unhappiness and obesity shows that norms and stigma vary a great deal across countries and cohorts, mediating the related well-being costs. Better understanding this variance and its effects on incentives for addressing the condition is important to policy design. More generally, the paper discusses how happiness surveys can-and cannot-inform public health policy.
Graham
Carol
C
Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA. cgraham@brookings.edu
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D019049:Developed Countries; D003906:Developing Countries; D006240:Happiness; D006291:Health Policy; D006304:Health Status; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017059:Models, Econometric; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000191:economics*; D013240:Stereotyping; D026712:Value of Life / Q000191:economics*