Policies for Happiness

In recent years, debates on the economics of happiness have shown that, over the long-term, well-being is influenced more by social and personal relationships than by income. This evidence challenges the traditional economic policy paradigm that has emphasized income as the primary determinant of well-being.

This volume brings together contributions from leading scholars to ask: What should be done to improve the quality of people's lives? Can economic and social changes be made which enhance well-being? What policies are required? How do policies for well-being differ from traditional ones targeted on redistribution, the correction of market inefficiencies, and growth? Are there dimensions of well-being that have been neglected by traditional policies? Is happiness a meaningful policy target?

The volume presents reflections and proposals which constitute a first step towards answering these questions.

Stefano Bartolini, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Siena,Ennio Bilancini,Associate Professor of Economics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia,Luigino Bruni,Professor of Economics, Universita LUMSA Rome,Pier Luigi Porta, Full professor, University of Milano-Bicocca

Stefano Bartolini is associate professor of Economics at the University of Siena and is the author of several articles published in international journals. He has worked with the World Bank and the OECD, and he has organized international conferences, including Policies for Happiness (Siena, June 2007) and Once Upon a Time There was the Future (Florence, January 2015). His research focusses on whether it is possible to reconcile a better quality of our environment, relationships, and well-being with economic prosperity.


Ennio Bilancini is associate professor of economics at the Marco Biagi Economics Department at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE). In 2007 he obtained his PhD in economics from the University of Siena. His research is on the intersection of economics and psychology, with a special focus on strategic behaviour, cognition, and well-being. He has taught courses in microeconomics, industrial organisation, behavioural economics, game theory, and the history of the Economic Thought at UNIMORE and at the University of Pisa. He has published papers in scientific journals such as European Economic Review, Games and Economic Behavior, Journal of Public Economics,Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, and Social Indicators Research.


Luigino Bruni is Professor of Economics at the Lumsa University (Rome). He earned a PhD in the history of economics at the University of Florence in Italy in 1998 and a PhD in economics at the University of East Anglia in 2006. His research interests include microeconomics, ethics and economics, history of economic thought, economic methodology, sociality and happiness, and economics and theology. His most recent work examines the civil economy, reciprocity, gift, and the role of intrinsic motivation in economic and civil life. His English-language books include Reciprocity, Altruism andCivil Society (Routledge, 2008); Handbook on The Economics of Happiness (edited with P. Porta, Elgar, 2007);Civil Economy (with S. Zamagni, Verlag Peter Lang, 2007); Civil Happiness (Routledge, 2006);The Genesis and Ethos of the Market (Palgrave MacMillan, 2012); and The Wound and the Blessing (Newcity, 2012).


Pier Luigi Porta is Professor of economics at the University of Milano-Bicocca. For ten years he was the Director of the Department of Economics at Bicocca, and a member of the Senate and of the Board of the University. A former research student at the University of Cambridge, he is now a Member of Christ's College and a Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College at Cambridge. He is a life member of the Istituto Lombardo-Accademia di Scienze e Lettere at Brera and a former member of the Executive of the Italian Economic Society. He is the Editor-in-chief of the International Review of Economics and has taught in a number of academic institutions in Italy and abroad. He has published over one hundred and fifty papers and several volumes includingEconomics and Happiness (co-edited with L. Bruni, Oxford University Press, 2007), andStructural Dynamics and Economic Growth ( co-edited with R. Arena, Cambridge University Press, 2012).