Happiness and Subjective Well-being: The Discourse is Herein

By Paul Andrew Bourne


An economist (Easterlin) studying happiness and income, of all social scientist, found an association between the two phenomena (Easterlin 2001a, 2001b), (see also Stutzer and Frey 2003). He began with this statement that “the relationship between happiness and income is puzzling” (Easterlin 2001a, 465), and found people with higher incomes were happier than those with lower incomes - he referred to as a correlation between subjective well-being and income (see also, Stutzer and Frey 2003, 8). He did not cease at this juncture, but sought to justify this realty, when he said that “those with higher income will be better able to fulfill their aspiration and, and other things being equal, on an average, feel better off” (Easterlin 2001a, 472). Well-being, therefore, can be explained outside of welfare theory and/or purely on objectification- objective utility (See for example, Kimball and Willis 2005; Stutzer and Frey 2003).

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