An enjoyable and multifaceted tour... convincingly expounds the need for a rich conception of human well-being in order to quantify individual and social progress.
Reto Odermatt, Global Policy
Happiness Explained is ... a useful primer for a non-technical reader setting out to understand this complex field
Tom Startup, Times Literary Supplement
Paul Anand's brilliant book on ... Read morehappiness is also a fine contribution to the ethical foundations of economics. It combines exceptional lucidity with analytical rigour, and shows that the so-called dismal science need not be dismal at all.
Amartya Sen, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Harvard University
A helpful introduction for beginners to the current state of happiness research
Choice
Economists are usually shy about happiness. Paul Anand is not. He writes with verve and clarity about ways to understand, measure, and promote human happiness. Drawing on psychology and philosophy as well as economics, he discusses how governments - and individuals - can increase the sum of happiness and quality of life. He offers a readable and intriguing guide to what ought to be - but rarely is - one of the most important policy issues for any government.
Frances Cairncross, previously Rector of Exeter College, Oxford
Seeks to answer the most important question of all . . . and makes a convincing case for a schooling that cultivates the mind while developing young peoples good character and wellbeing.
Lord OShaughnessy, founder of Floreat Education
Essential reading for anyone who has questioned that we are simply homo economici motivated solely or even primarily, by individualism and the endless pursuit of material wealth... insightful as it is pragmatic.
Health Prince, Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Policy, Austin Texas
Shows how the capability approach of Sen and Nussbaum can be made operational and integrates the most important insights from the booming empirical literature on subjective happiness. This book will be a source of inspiration for everybody who believes that material consumption is not the only contributor to individual wellbeing.
Erik Schokkaert, Department of Economics, University of Leuven
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