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Can money buy happiness? Is income a reliable measure for life satisfaction? In the West after World War II, happiness seemed inextricably connected to prosperity. Beginning in the 1960s, however, other values began to gain ground: peace, political participation, civil rights, environmentalism. "Happiness economics"-a somewhat incongruous-sounding branch of what has been called "the dismal science"-has taken up the puzzle of what makes people happy, conducting elaborate surveys in which people are asked to quantify their satisfaction with "life in general." In this book, three economists explore the happiness-prosperity connection, investigating how economists measure life satisfaction and well-being.

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"This book helps to overcome the outdated economists´ way of thinking that postulates More is Better than Less.´ The authors do that in a substantial way, showing alternatives to this materialistic view, making their book a fascinating experience to read." -Bruno S. Frey, Senior Professor of Political Economy, Zeppelin University, Germany; author of Happiness: A Revolution in Economics

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Joachim Weimann is Full Professor of Economic Policy at Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, and head of MaXlLab, the Magdeburg Laboratory for Experimental Economics. Andreas Knabe is Full Professor and Chair of Public Economics at Otto-von-Guericke-Universät Magdeburg. Ronnie Schöb is Full Professor of International Public Economies at the School of Business and Economics at Freie Universität in Berlin.

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