Easterlin Paradox 1: Growth without Happiness?

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Clearly people in rich countries are usually happier than people in poor countries. People in western Europe are far better off than people in central Africa. The logical implication seems to be that economic growth is increasing happiness. However, not all data supports that. Surprisingly, people didn’t become happier in the USA in the last 40 years notwithstanding a tripling of GDP. This Phenomenon is called the “Easterlin Paradox”. It claims that Subjective Well-Being and GDP/Income/Wealth are unrelated in the long run. After countries reach a certain level of wealth, boosting GDP does nothing to increase happiness.

Sources:

The Chinese Case:

The Easterlin Paradox criticized:

Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. (2008). Economic growth and subjective well-being: reassessing the Easterlin paradox (No. w14282). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Veenhoven, R., & Vergunst, F. (2014). The Easterlin illusion: economic growth does go with greater happiness. International Journal of Happiness and Development, 1(4), 311-343.

Lim, H. E., Shaw, D., & Liao, P. S. (2017). Revisiting the Income-Happiness Paradox: The Case of Taiwan and Malaysia. Institutions and Economies, 53-69.

In defense of the Easterlin Paradox:

Easterlin, R. A., McVey, L. A., Switek, M., Sawangfa, O., & Zweig, J. S. (2010). The happiness–income paradox revisited. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(52), 22463-22468.

Beja, E. L. (2014). Income growth and happiness: Reassessment of the Easterlin Paradox. International Review of Economics, 61(4), 329-346.

Easterlin, R. (2016). Paradox lost?.