Personal tools
You are here: Home / Publications / Happiness and health: lessons—and questions—for public policy

Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Happiness and health: lessons—and questions—for public policy

Graham, Carol. (2008). Happiness and health: lessons—and questions—for public policy. Health Affairs, 27(1), 72.

Graham, Carol. (2008). Happiness and health: lessons—and questions—for public policy. Health Affairs, 27(1), 72.

Octet Stream icon 1166.ris — Octet Stream, 971 bytes

This paper reviews the happiness-health relationship from an economics perspective, highlighting the role of adaptation. People’s expectations for health standards influence their reported health and associated happiness, a finding that roughly mirrors the Easterlin paradox in income and happiness. Research on unhappiness and obesity shows that norms and stigma vary a great deal across countries and cohorts, mediating the related well-being costs. Better understanding this variance and its effects on incentives for addressing the condition is important to policy design. More generally, the paper discusses how happiness surveys can—and cannot—inform public health policy.




JOUR



Graham, Carol



2008


Health Affairs

27

1

72






0278-2715

10.1377/hlthaff.27.1.72



1166