Important Economists

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Economists that Focus on Happiness in Economics

Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and political theorist who was most well known for his concept of utilitarianism. He was a lawyer in the bar who never practiced, but rather Bentham came upon this theory because he dedicated his time to analyzing morals and legislation. Bentham believed in a free-market approach, and according to the Columbia Encyclopedia Bentham, “predated Keynes in his advocacy of expansionist monetary policies to achieve full employment and advocated a range of interventions, including the minimum wage and guaranteed employment.”

Although the majority of his work was in ethics, his most lasting contributions were to economics and how his utilitarian principles applied to it. According to about.com utilitarianism can be defined as, “operating on the principle that the utility (happiness or satisfaction) of different people can not only be measured but also meaningfully summed over people and that utility comparisons between people are meaningful.” Bentham was best known for his statement concerning utilitarianism: “It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.” This lasting statement has been the basis of current happiness research because through his studies Bentham devised both quantitative and qualitative ways to measure happiness. He was a forerunner of happiness research through his lists of the sources of pleasure and pain, the use of the term “well-being,” and his subjective assessment of his research. He also suggested certain thoughts on happiness that “neo-Benthamites” and other economists work on solving today.

Notable Quotes about Bentham:

"In the eighteenth century Bentham and others proposed that the object of public policy should be to maximize the sum of happiness in society. So economics evolved as the study of utility, or happiness, which was assumed to be in principle measurable and comparable across people."
"Bentham also believed that happiness matters because it is what people want. Indeed he argued that in the end all actions are driven by the desire to feel good." (Layard, 1st Lecture)

Richard Easterlin

Richard Easterlin is known as the, “first economist to make prominent use of happiness data.” (Di Tella and MacCulloch). Easterlin, a well known economist, is currently an economics professor at the University of Southern California and has won many awards throughout his career for his economic papers and articles. Although he has many current papers on happiness, Easterlin first introduced his happiness research into the economic community in 1974. In an article from 2004 Easterlin focuses on topics first used by Bentham such as subjective well-being. He explores the subjective well-being through survey questions, the most common being, “How satisfied are you with your life as a whole – very, somewhat, so-so, not very, or not at all?” Easterlin, along with other economists, found this question to be very meaningful and useful when analyzing data. This is so because although it is a fairly simple question, people are generally willing to answer it, and when compared to factors such as their income and employment status, can be very informative. Easterlin argues that contrary to popular belief, “public policy measures aimed at increasing the income of society as a whole” will not necessary increase overall happiness. This has to do with the idea that happiness is relative; meaning that if one’s income increases they will feel happier than if everyone’s income also increases. Easterlin continues to research these themes of happiness within economics.

This information was obtained through Richard Easterlin's personal website as well as from his article "The Economics of Happiness" [1] article,Some uses of Happiness Data in Economics

Bruno Frey

Robert H. Frank