title: Culture and Well-Being: A New Inquiry Into the Psychological Wealth of Nations.
abstract: What is a good society? Philosophers from Plato to Bentham have argued that a good society is a happy society-namely, a society in which most citizens are happy and free from fear. Since the publication of The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith in 1776, most economists have implicitly assumed that a happy society is a materially wealthy society. Thus, gross national product and related indices became the most popular indicators of the well-being of nations from the 1950s to date. Recently, however, prominent economists as well as political scientists, sociologists, and psychologists have shown that a happy society is not only a materially wealthy society but also a society in which citizens can trust one another, have a sense of freedom, and have close social relationships. The inquiry into the psychological wealth of nations, or the subjective well-being of nations, helps answer a fundamental question in philosophy and social sciences for millennia: "What is a good society?"
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville soishi@virginia.edu.
authors.forename: Shigehiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oishi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schimmack
keywords: culture; social support; wealth; well-being