Surely everyone wants to know the source of happiness - and indeed, economists and social scientists are increasingly interested in the study and effects of subjective well-being. Putting forward a new method for measuring, comparing, and analyzing the relationship between happiness and the way people spend their time - across countries, regions, and history - this book will help set the agenda for research. It does so by introducing the system of National Time Accounting (NTA), which relies on individuals' own evaluations of their emotional experiences during various uses of time, a distinct improvement in measuring well-being from objective measures such as the Gross National Product. A distinguished group of contributors here summarize the NTA methodology, provide illustrative findings about happiness based on NTA, and subject the system to a rigorous conceptual and methodological critique that only strengthens the approach. As subjective well-being is topical in economics, psychology, and other social sciences, this book should have cross-disciplinary appeal.
Introduction and Overview by Alan B. Krueger 1
1 National Time Accounting: The Currency of Life by Alan B. Krueger and Daniel Kahneman and David Schkade and Norbert Schwarz and Arthur A. Stone 9
2 That Which Makes Life Worthwhile by George Loewenstein 87
3 Measuring National Well-Being by David M. Cutler 107
4 National Time Accounting and National Economic Accounting by J. Steven Landefeld and Shaunda Villones 113
5 Measuring Real Income with Leisure and Household Production by William Nordhaus 125
6 Well-Being Measurement and Public Policy by Richard Layard 145
7 International Evidence on Well-Being by David G. Blanchflower 155
8 Thoughts on "National Time Accounting: The Currency of Life" by Erik Hurst 227
9 Rejoinder by Alan B. Krueger and Daniel Kahneman and David Schkade and Norbert Schwarz and Arthur A. Stone 243