ChapterPDF Available

The Objective Benefits of Subjective Well-Being

January 2013

In book: World Happiness Report 2013
Chapter: The objective benefits of subjective well-being
Publisher: UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
Editors: John Helliwell, Richard Layard, J Sachs

Authors:

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve

University College London

Ed Diener

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Louis Tay

Purdue University West Lafayette

The aim of this paper is to survey the “hard” evidence on the effects of subjective well-being. In doing so, we complement the evidence on the determinants of well-being by showing that human well-being also affects outcomes of interest such as health, income, and social behavior. Generally, we observe a dynamic relationship between happiness and other important aspects of our lives, with influence running in both directions.

Proportion of individuals surviving by level of positive affect in an analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

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. Earnings equations: Linear regression models of log income at age 29 (2008) on lagged subjective well-being and covariates

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Model of positive feedback loop between prosocial spending and happiness

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The Objective Benefits of Subjective Well-Being*

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve

University College London and Centre for Economic Performance (LSE)

Ed Diener

University of Illinois and The Gallup Organization

Louis Tay

Purdue University

Cody Xuereb

Centre for Economic Performance (LSE)

6 August 2013

De Neve, J.-E., Diener, E., Tay, L., & Xuereb, C. (2013) The objective benefits of

subjective well-being. In Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J., eds. World Happiness

Report 2013. New York: UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

* Corresponding author: Jan-Emmanuel De Neve (email: j.de-neve@lse.ac.uk). The authors thank Claire

Bulger, John Helliwell, and Richard Layard for very helpful comments and guidance. This article was

prepared, in part, as a contribution to the research undertaken for the forthcoming New Development

Paradigm (NDP) report of the Royal Government of Bhutan. Financial support from the LSE Centre for

Economic Performance, Emirates Competitiveness Council, Earth Institute (Columbia University), UK

Department for Work and Pensions, and National Institute on Aging/NIH Grant RO1-AG040640 is

gratefully acknowledged.

I. Introduction

The aim of this paper is to survey the “hard” evidence on the effects of subjective

well-being. In doing so, we complement the evidence on the determinants of well-being

by showing that human well-being also affects outcomes of interest such as health,

income, and social behavior. Generally, we observe a dynamic relationship between

happiness and other important aspects of our lives, with influence running in both

directions.

Although happiness is considered here as a means — rather than an end in itself —

we do not imply that normative arguments for raising well-being are insufficient to make

the case for well-being. However, a better understanding of the objective benefits of

raising happiness may also help to put happiness more center-stage in policy-making and

to refine policy evaluation.

In the following sections we review the growing literature on the objective benefits

of happiness across the major life domains categorized into (i) health & longevity; (ii)

income, productivity, & organizational behavior; and (iii) individual & social behavior.

Scientific research increasingly points to specific ways in which happiness generates

tangible benefits. The experience of well-being encourages individuals to pursue goals that

are capacity-building to meet future challenges. At the physiological level, positive

emotions have been found to improve immune, cardiovascular, and endocrine functioning.

In contrast, negative emotions are detrimental to these processes. Table 1 below

summarizes and categorizes the literature on the effects of subjective well-being.

Although high subjective well-being tends to help people function better, it is of

course not a cure-all. Happy people do get sick and do lose friends. Not all happy people

are productive workers. Happiness is like any other factor that aids health and functioning;

with all other things being equal, it is likely (but not guaranteed) to help. It is important to

emphasize that research does not prescribe extreme bliss but, rather, tentative evidence

suggests that a moderate degree of happiness tends to be “optimal” for the effects

surveyed in this paper.

Before concluding this paper we also discuss how happiness may lead to better life

outcomes and what its role may be in human evolution. There is initial evidence about the

processes that mediate between happiness and its beneficial outcomes. For instance,

positive feelings bolster the immune system and lead to fewer cardiovascular problems,

whereas anxiety and depression are linked to poorer health behaviors and problematical

physiological indicators such as inflammation. Thus, a causal impact of happiness on

health and longevity can be understood with the mediating mechanisms that are now being

uncovered. Research in the field of neuroscience provides further prospects for new

scientific insights on mediating pathways between happiness and traits or outcomes of

interest.

It naturally follows from this survey that it is important to balance economic

measures of societal progress with measures of subjective well-being and to ensure that

economic progress leads to broad improvements across life domains, not just greater

economic capacity. Given the tangible benefits to individuals and societies of moderately

high well-being, it is ever more urgent that we act to effectively put well-being at the heart

of policy and generate the conditions that allow everyone to flourish.

Table 1: Summary of the objective benefits of subjective wellbeing

Benefits(

Evidence!

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• Adversity*and*stress*in*childhood*is*associated*with*higher*inflammation*later*in*

life.1**

• Positive* emotions* help* cardiovascular,* immune* and* endocrine* systems,2*

including*heart*rate*variability.3*Evidence*suggests*a*causal*link*between*positive*

feelings* and* reduced* inflammatory,* cardiovascular* and* neuroendocrine*

problems.4*

• Positive* affect* is* associated* with* lower* rates* of* stroke* and* heart* disease* and*

susceptibility*to*viral*infection.5*

• High* subjective* wellDbeing* is*linked* to* healthier* eatin g,* likelihood* of* smoking,*

exercise,*and*weight.6*

• Positive* emotions* can* undo* harmful* physiological* effects* by* speeding* up*

recovery.7**

• Happier*individuals*tend*to*live* longer*and*have*a* lower* risk*of*mortality,*even*

after*controlling*for*relevant*factors.8*

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• Individuals* with* induced* positive* emotions* were* more* productive* in* an*

experimental*setting.9'

• Happy*workers*were*more* likely*to*be* rated*highly*by*supervisors*and*in*terms*

of*financial*performance.10'

• Happiness*can*increase*curiosity,*creativity,*and*motivation*among*employees.11'

• Happy* individuals* are* more* likely* to* engage* collaboratively* and* cooperatively*

during*negotiations.12'

• WellDbeing* is* positively* associated* with* individual* earnings.13 *Longitudinal*

evidence*suggests* that* happiness*at*one*point* in* time* predicts* future*earnings,*

even*after*controlling*for*confounding*factors.14'

• Greater* satisfaction* among* employees* tends* to* predict* organizationDlevel*

productivity*and*performance,*e.g.*revenue,*sales*and*profits.15'

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• In*experiments,* individuals*with* higher* wellDbeing*and*positive*affect* are* more*

willing* to* forego* a*smaller* benefit* in* the* moment* in* order* to* obtain* a* larger*

• Reduced'consumption'&'

increased'savings'

• Employment'

• Reduced'riskCtaking'

• ProCsocial'behavior'(e.g.,'

donating'money'and'

volunteering)'

• Sociability,'social'relationships'&'

networks'

benefit* in* the* future.16*Happier* individuals* may* be* better* able* to* purse* longD

term* goals* despite* shortDterm* costs* due* to* a* greater* ability* to* delay*

gratification.17'

• Longitudinal* studies* find* evidence* that* happier* individuals* tend* to* spend* less*

and* save* more,* take* more* time* when* making* decisions* and* have* higher*

perceived*life*expectancies.18'

• Survey* evidence* shows* the* probability* of* reDemployment* within* one* year* is*

higher*among*individuals*who*are*happier.19'

• The* prevalence* of* seatDbelt* usage* and* the* likelihood* of* being* involved* in* an*

automobile* accident* were* both* linked* to* life* satisfaction* in* a*survey* of* over*

300,000*US*households.20'

• Individuals* who* report* higher* subjective* wellDbeing* donate* more* time,* money,*

and*blood*to*others.21'

• WellDbeing* increases* interest* in* social* activities* leading* to* more*and* higher*

quality*interactions.22*Positive* moods* also* lead* to* more* engagement* in* social*

activities.23 *The* happinessDsocial* interaction* link* is* found* across* different*

cultures*and*can*lead*to*the*transmission*of*happiness*across*social*networks.24(

Note: Further detail on each study cited in the table is included in the relevant sections of this paper.

II. Benefits of happiness

i. Happiness on health and longevity

There are many factors that influence health, such as having strong social

support, and practicing good health behaviors, such as exercising and not smoking.

Although being happy is only one of those factors, it is an important one. This is

because higher levels of subjective well-being can both directly and indirectly

influence health. Below we review the up-to-date research on whether happy people

experience better health.25

Happiness and unhappiness have been directly associated with physiological

processes underlying health and disease. For example, Kubzansky and colleagues find

that adversity and stress in childhood predict elevated markers of inflammation a few

years later. 26 And chronic inflammation that occurs over years can harm the

cardiovascular system. Cohen et al. (2003) found that positive emotions were

associated with stronger immune system responses to infection. Bhattacharyya et al.

(2008) found that positive feelings were associated with healthier levels of heart rate

variability. Negative emotions harm cardiovascular, immune, and endocrine systems

in humans, whereas positive emotions appear to help them.27 Levels of subjective

well-being influence health, with positive levels helping health and negative levels

harming it. Through an accumulation of studies, we are beginning to understand not

just that subjective well-being influences health, but how this occurs.

Because subjective well-being influences physiological processes underlying

health and disease, it is predictive of lower rates of cardiovascular disease and quicker

recovery. For example, positive affect is associated with lower rates of strokes in

senior citizens.28 Davidson et al. (2010) found in a prospective longitudinal study that

those without positive feelings were at a higher risk for heart disease than those with

some positive feelings, who in turn had higher levels of heart disease than those with

moderate positive feelings. Stress can even hinder wound healing after an injury.29

One indirect route from happiness to health is that individuals who are high in

subjective well-being are more likely to practice good health behaviors and practices.

Blanchflower et al. (2012) found that happier individuals have a healthier diet, eating

more fruits and vegetables. Ashton and Stepney (1982) reported that neurotic

individuals, people who are prone to more stress, are more likely to smoke. Pettay

(2008) found that college students high in life satisfaction were more likely to be a

healthy weight, exercise, and eat healthy foods. Schneider et al. (2009) found that

happier adolescents, as assessed by brain scans of the left prefrontal area, showed a

more positive response to moderate exercise. Garg et al. (2007) found that people put

in a sad mood as part of an experiment were more likely to eat tasty but fattening

foods, such as buttered popcorn, rather than a healthy fruit.

Using a large sample representative of the USA, Strine and her colleagues

(2008a & b) found that depressed individuals are more likely to be obese and twice as

likely to smoke, and parallel results were found for those with very high in anxiety.

Lack of exercise was associated with depression, and excessive drinking of alcohol

was associated with anxiety. Grant et al. (2009) found, in a large sample across 21

nations, that higher life satisfaction was associated across regions with a greater

likelihood of exercising and a lower likelihood of smoking. Kubzansky et al. (2012)

found that distressed adolescents are more likely to be overweight. Thus, not only is

there a direct biological path from happiness to healthier bodily systems, but

unhappiness is also associated with destructive behaviors that can exacerbate health

problems.

Another indirect effect of happiness, as will be described more fully in a next

section, is that higher happiness can lead to more positive and fulfilling social

relationships. And having these relationships promotes health.30 For instance, the

experience of prolonged stress can lead to poor health, but the presence of supportive

friends and family can help individuals during this time. In contrast, lonely

individuals experience worse health .31

An important concern with these research findings is that healthier people may

be happier because of their good health, and not the other way around. While this may

be true for some reported findings, scientific studies also show support for a causal

link going from happiness to health. Research findings have established a link from

happiness to better physiological functioning. Ong (2010) and Steptoe et al. (2009)

review various possible explanations for the effects of positive feelings on health.

Steptoe et al. (2005) found among middle-aged men and women that those high in

positive feelings had reduced inflammatory, cardiovascular, and neuroendocrine

problems. For instance, happiness was associated with a lower ambulatory heart rate

and with lower cortisol output across the day. Similarly, Rasmussen et al. (2009)

found that optimism predicted future health outcomes such as mortality, immune

function, and cancer outcomes, controlling for factors such as demographics, health,

and negative feelings. Boehm and her colleagues found that optimism and positive

emotions protect against cardiovascular disease and also predict slower disease

progression.32 They discovered that those with positive moods were more often

engaged in positive health behaviors, such as exercising and eating a nutritious diet.

Furthermore, positive feelings were associated with beneficial biological markers,

such as lower blood fat and blood pressure, and a healthier body mass index. These

associations held even controlling for level of negative moods.

Another piece of evidence supporting happiness causing good health is that

positive emotions can undo the ill-effects of negative emotions on health. Negative

emotions generate increased cardiovascular activity and redistribute blood flow to

specific skeletal muscles. It has been shown that positive emotions can undo harmful

physiological effects by speeding physiological recovery to desirable levels.33

Diener and Chan (2011) reviewed eight types of evidence that point to a

causal connection going from subjective well-being to health and longevity. They

reviewed longitudinal studies with adults, animal experiments, experiments in which

participants' moods are manipulated and biomarkers are assessed, natural quasi-

experiments, and studies in which moods and biomarkers are tracked together over

time in natural settings. Diener and Chan (2011) concluded that the evidence

overwhelmingly points to positive feelings being causally related to health.

Happiness on average leads not only to better health, but also to a longer life.

Danner et al. (2001) found that happier nuns lived about 10 years longer than their

less happy colleagues. Because the nuns all had similar diets, housing, and living

conditions, and the happiness measure was collected at a very early age many decades

before death (at age 22 on average), the study suggests a causal relation between

positive moods and longevity. In another study, Pressman and Cohen (2012) found

that psychologists who used aroused positive words (e.g., lively, vigorous) in their

autobiographies lived longer. In a longitudinal study of individuals 40 years old and

older, Wiest et al. (2011) found that both life satisfaction and positive feelings

predicted mortality, controlling for socio-economic status variables. Conversely, Russ

et al. (2012) reviewed 10 cohort studies and found that psychological distress

predicted all-cause mortality, as well as cardiovascular and cancer deaths. Russ et al.

found that even mild levels of psychological distress led to increased risk of mortality,

controlling for a number of possible confounding factors. Whereas risk of death from

cardiovascular diseases or external causes, such as accidents, was significant even at

lower levels of distress, cancer death was only related to high levels of distress. Bush

et al. (2001) found that even mild depression increased the risk of mortality after

people had experienced a heart attack.

A systematic review by Chida and Steptoe (2008) on happiness and future

mortality in longitudinal studies showed that happiness lowered the risk of mortality

in both healthy and diseased populations, even when initial health and other factors

were controlled. Moreover, the experience of positive emotions predicted mortality

over and above negative emotions, showing that the effects of subjective well-being

go beyond the absence of negativity. Therefore, not only do negative emotions predict

mortality, but positive emotions predict longevity. One reason this may be so, besides

the toll that cardiovascular and immune diseases take on unhappy people, is that stress

might lead to more rapid ageing. Epel et al. (2004) found shorter telomeres (the

endcaps protecting DNA) in women who had significant stress in their lives. Because

DNA must replicate with fidelity for an individual to remain healthy over the decades

of life, and because the telomeres protect our DNA during replication, the reduction

of telomeres due to stress leads to more rapid aging when a person chronically

experiences unhappiness.

In a large representative sample of elderly people in the UK, Steptoe and

Wardle (2011) found that higher levels of positive affect were significantly associated

with a higher probability of survival in the five years following the survey. The study

divided respondents into three groups based on the positive affect they reported over a

24-hour period and then compared their mortality rates over a five-year period

following the survey. Mortality rates among respondents in the highest positive affect

group were reduced by 35% on average relative to those in the lowest positive affect

group. This rate was robust even when controlling for demographic factors as well as

health behaviors, self-reported health, and other conditions. Those in the high and

medium positive affect groups had death rates of 3.6% and 4.6%, respectively,

compared to 7.3% for the low positive affect group. Figure 1 below shows the

differences in survival rates among the three groups in the follow-up period.

Figure 1: Proportion of individuals surviving by level of positive affect in an

analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

High-Positive Affect group

Medium-Positive Affect group

Low-Positive Affect group

Notes: Figure from Steptoe and Wardle (2011). “Survival from affect assessment” is measured in

months from initial interview where positive affect levels where reported. The English Longitudinal

Survey of Ageing is a representative sample of older men and women living in England. Positive affect

reported on a single day by individuals between 52 and 79 years old were used. Values are adjusted for

age and sex. Respondents with the highest third of reported positive affect were 34% less likely to die

over the period studied than those in the lowest positive affect group after controlling for demographic

and health factors. Those in the high and medium positive affect groups had death rates of 3.6% and

4.6%, respectively, compared to 7.3% for the low positive affect group.

Primate studies also point to happiness affecting longevity. Weiss et al. (2011)

found that orangutans who were rated as happier by their caretakers lived longer.

Indeed, the difference between the apes that were one standard-deviation above

versus below the mean in happiness was 11 years. Because these apes often live about

50 years in captivity, happiness accounted for a very large increase in longevity.

Research on the role of happiness in human evolution (a topic explored in

more depth below) finds a relationship between well-being and successful

reproduction. A recent review by Diener et al. (2012) highlighted the evidence linking

positive mood to the frequency of sexual intercourse and fertility. For example,

Rasmussen et al. (2009) found that pregnant women who were more optimistic tended

to miscarry less frequently and have babies of a healthy weight.

The positive benefits of subjective well-being on health at the individual level

generalize to more aggregate levels. Lawless and Lucas (2011) found that places with

higher life satisfaction had greater life expectancies, with lower levels of mortality

from heart disease, homicide, liver disease, diabetes, and cancer. Similarly,

Blanchflower and Oswald (2008) found that higher levels of national well-being were

related to lower levels of national hypertension in a sample of 16 nations.

Blanchflower and Oswald (2008) also found that regions in the United Kingdom

reporting more stress also had higher rates of blood pressure. Moum (1996) found that

low subjective well-being is both a short- and long-term predictor of suicide, and

uncovered similar findings in a 20-year study. Across 32 nations, it was found that

experiencing higher life satisfaction and happiness was related to lower suicide

rates.34 These findings suggest that links between happiness and health outcomes are

not simply relative in nature as they persist in aggregate and cross-national studies.

Happiness can therefore influence health outcomes for both individual citizens and

entire societies.

There is also evidence that negative affect can worsen health, even making

illness more likely. For example, depressed people are substantially more likely to

have cardiovascular problems, such as heart disease and strokes. Rugulies (2000)

found in a review of 11 studies that depressed feelings predict coronary heart disease

and that clinical levels of depression predict even more strongly. Similarly, when a

person is angry and hostile they are more likely to suffer from coronary heart

disease.35 Depression is associated with unhealthy physiological processes, such as

inflammation,36 which is believed to be connected to the development of heart

diseases. Antidepressant medications can lower inflammation. A review by Zorrilla et

al. (2001) found that stress is related to a weaker immune system. Studies on fertility

provide yet more evidence on how negative emotions can be detrimental to healthy

functioning. Fertility is lower among depressed women.37 An unhappy pregnancy is

more likely to lead to a premature and low birth weight child.38 However, as

discussed above, the effect of negative affect is not a mirror image of that observed

for positive affect. In a study of susceptibility to developing a cold, Cohen et al (2003)

found that individuals with positive emotional styles had greater resistance to the

virus when controlling for other factors, whereas negative emotions were not

associated with resistance. This suggests that positive and negative affect may impact

on health through different pathways but further study is needed to understand this

interaction.

ii. Happiness on income, productivity, and organizational behavior

The experience of happiness is beneficial to workplace success because it

promotes workplace productivity, creativity, and cooperation. There are several

reasons why this is the case. The experience of positive feelings motivates people to

succeed at work and to persist with efforts to attain their goals. As discussed above,

individuals who are happier are more likely to be healthy and will, in turn, tend to be

more productive (in part, simply because happier and healthier individuals will take

fewer sick days). In addition, individuals who are happier better integrate information

leading to new ideas, which leads to creativity and innovation. Finally, individuals

who are happier tend to have better social relations. In the context of work this leads

to greater cooperation among coworkers and with customers.

Oswald et al. (2012) investigated how positive feelings influence productivity

in an experimental setting. In an experiment involving piece-rate pay for research

participants across a number of days, the economists found that those who were put in

a positive mood had a greater quantity of work output (about 10-12%), but no less

quality of output. Those performing the task at low and medium levels of productivity

were helped most by being put in a good mood. As part of that same research, Oswald

et al. (2012) also found that a bad mood induced by family illness or bereavement had

a detrimental impact on productivity.

Employees who are high in subjective well-being are more likely to achieve

more while at work. Peterson et al. (2011) found that happy workers – optimistic and

hopeful, resilient and high in self-efficacy – were more likely to be high in supervisor-

rated performance and in financial performance. Conversely, whereas positive

feelings reduce absenteeism from work, negative feelings increase absenteeism as

well as turnover.39

Happiness has also been shown to enhance curiosity and creativity. Foremost,

positive feelings are associated with curiosity and creativity.40 Leitzel (2001) found

that happy people are more likely to feel energetic and interested in doing things, as

well as scoring higher on measures of curiosity. Further, there is a large experimental

research literature showing that people put in a good mood tend to be more original,

creative, and show greater cognitive flexibility.41 Both Amabile et al (2005) and

George and Zhou (2007) found that workers are more creative when they experience

positive moods. Indeed, two recent meta-analyses of experimental and non-

experimental studies showed that although the strength of effects depend on the

context and motivational focus, happiness is related to and generates creativity.42

A major reason for the success of happy individuals and organizations is that

they experience on average more positive social relationships. Research clearly shows

that happy workers are more cooperative and collaborative in negotiations than

unhappy ones. In general, positive emotions boost cooperative and collaborative

behavior in negotiations rather than withdrawal or competition.43 Individuals who are

in a positive mood are more willing to make concessions during negotiations.44

Through cooperation, they reach a better joint solution in negotiations.45 Individuals

in a positive mood are more likely to make cooperative choices in a prisoner’s

dilemma game as well.46 People in a positive mood are also more likely to show

cohesion with their group. Recent experimental studies have shown that positive

emotions lead to trust and cooperation when specific conditions are met.47 Overall,

happiness leads to cooperation and collaboration in the workplace, particularly so in

situations involving negotiation.

On the other hand, negative emotions in the workplace, especially chronic or

intense ones, can be very detrimental to the organization. For example, Felps et al.

(2006) found that a single negative individual in a work unit often brings down the

morale and functioning of the entire group.

One indicator of the subjective well-being of employees is job satisfaction.48

A quantitative review found that job satisfaction is a key predictor of job

performance, showing that happy employees are better performers in their

workplace. 49 To establish a causal relation, a meta-analysis of panel data

demonstrated that job satisfaction predicted future performance, but performance did

not predict future job satisfaction.50 Erdogan et al. (2012) reviewed the research

showing that individuals with higher life satisfaction are more likely to have higher

levels of career satisfaction, lower turnover intentions, and higher organizational

commitment.

In line with the notion that happier workers are better workers, higher well-

being is also shown to be associated with higher income51 and future income.52 De

Neve & Oswald (2012) used a large US representative panel study to show that

adolescents and young adults who report higher life satisfaction or positive affect

grew up to earn significantly higher levels of income later in life. They used siblings

as comparison controls, and also accounted for factors such as intelligence and health,

as well as the human capacity to imagine later socioeconomic outcomes and

anticipate the resulting feelings in current well-being (see Figure 2 below). Thus, to

date, four longitudinal studies have systematically found that happiness at one point in

time predicts higher future income, controlling for relevant factors such as

intelligence, parental income, and even a sizable part of any genetic predispositions.53

Figure 2: Longitudinal relationship between subjective well-being during

adolescence and young adulthood (ages 16, 18 and 22) and later earnings (at age

29)

Notes: Figure from De Neve & Oswald (2012). The bars represent the response categories for positive

affect (at ages 16 and 18) and life satisfaction (at age 22), from lowest to highest levels, and relate this

to the mean income for the respondents in each category at age 29. Across the sample, the mean

income at age 29 was $34,632. Large samples were observed for each category (N=14,867 for positive

affect at age 16, N=11,253 for positive affect at age 18 and N=12,415 for life satisfaction at age 22). A

margin of error (i.e. 2 Standard Errors) is included around each estimate.

Subjective well-being brings about greater success at the organizational level

as well. Bockerman and Ilmakunnas (2012) found that job satisfaction predicts the

productivity of manufacturing plants. Harter et al. (2010) found in a longitudinal

study of 10 large organizations that worker engagement makes a difference to

productivity. Work units in which employees were satisfied and otherwise felt highly

engaged with their work led to improvements in the bottom line, measured in terms of

income. The effect sizes of the well-being measures remain rel-

atively stable between Table 1 (full panel) and Table 2 (sibling

panel). The lower signiﬁcance levels in Table 2 are presumably

due to the reduced number of observations in the sibling panel as

well as having accounted for family ﬁxed effects.

Tables S7 and S8 present results for an individual ﬁxed-effects

model and a Granger causality analysis that use the available

information on earnings in 2001 (age 22). Both model speciﬁ-

cations obtain highly signiﬁcant results for the effect of lagged

subjective well-being on earnings. However, we do not lend these

results full credence, given that earnings at age 22 may not yet ac-

curately represent individual income and also because these panel

data allow for only one time interval, and the exogeneity assumption

necessary for panel data models is unlikely to be satisﬁed.

If income is indeed endogenous to happiness, it becomes im-

portant to study how happiness comes to inﬂuence a person’s

income. Table 3 presents results for our investigation into po-

tential mediating pathways. These univariate Sobel–Goodman

Table 1. Earnings equations: Linear regression models of log income at age 29 (2008) on lagged

subjective well-being and covariates

Independent variable

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4

Coeff. Pvalue Coeff. Pvalue Coeff. Pvalue Coeff. Pvalue

Positive affect (1994) 0.033 0.002 0.014 0.314

Positive affect (1996) 0.044 0.000 0.030 0.037

Life satisfaction (2001) 0.051 0.000 0.047 0.000

Positive affect (2008) 0.092 0.000 0.089 0.000 0.086 0.000 0.074 0.000

Male 0.149 0.000 0.146 0.000 0.147 0.000 0.145 0.000

Age 0.089 0.000 0.084 0.000 0.088 0.000 0.085 0.000

College 0.210 0.000 0.216 0.000 0.212 0.000 0.201 0.000

IQ 0.038 0.001 0.037 0.004 0.043 0.000 0.030 0.022

Medication 0.013 0.174 0.013 0.253 0.013 0.197 0.014 0.211

Height 0.036 0.008 0.039 0.011 0.035 0.011 0.037 0.016

Self-esteem (1994) 0.057 0.000 0.041 0.003

Self-esteem (1996) 0.044 0.001 0.015 0.306

Self-esteem (2001) 0.054 0.000 0.030 0.017

Black −0.068 0.000 −0.064 0.000 −0.063 0.000 −0.065 0.000

Hispanic 0.056 0.000 0.065 0.000 0.051 0.000 0.064 0.000

Asian 0.062 0.000 0.063 0.000 0.061 0.010 0.064 0.000

Intercept 10.15 0.000 10.14 0.000 10.15 0.000 10.14 0.000

N11,080 8,620 11,086 8,585

0.12 0.12 0.13 0.13

Variable coefﬁcients (Coeff.) are standardized, and Pvalues are presented. Variable deﬁnitions are in

Table S2.

Fig. 1. The longitudinal relationship between subjective well-being (at ages 16, 18, and 22) and later earnings (at age 29). Response categories for positive

affect (at ages 16 and 18) and life satisfaction (at age 22) are presented in relationship with their respective mean income levels at about age 29. Mean income

across the sample is $34,632 at age 29. N=14,867 for positive affect at age 16, N=11,253 for positive affect at age 18, and N=12,415 for life satisfaction at

age 22. The original positive affect variable categories are reshaped to a 5-point scale for ease of comparison. Error bars (2 SEs) are shown.

De Neve and Oswald PNAS

December 4, 2012

vol. 109

no. 49

19955

ECONOMIC

SCIENCES

revenue, sales, and profit.54 On the other hand, reverse causality going from company

success to employee satisfaction was weaker. An analysis of the “100 Best

Companies to Work For in America” revealed that they increased more in equity

value compared to the industry benchmarks. The resulting higher returns were about

3% per year.

The study by Harter and his colleagues (2010), based on 2,178 work units in

10 large companies, found that engaged and satisfied workers led to greater revenue,

sales, and profits. The two factors that mediated the relation between employee

engagement and the performance outcomes were customer loyalty and employee

retention. It makes intuitive sense that customers would prefer to interact with

positive employees and thus frequent the business. Employee retention is a large

challenge for modern companies both because it is expensive to replace employees,

especially highly skilled ones, and because more senior employees have more

experience on the job. Thus, it is not surprising that employee engagement, resulting

in customer loyalty and employee retention, accounted for 10% of the variability in

the productivity of the corporations studied.

iii. Happiness on individual and social behavior

Subjective well-being has an impact on individual behavior and decision-

making. Happiness and positive affect have been identified as determinants of

economic behavior ranging from consumption and savings to time preferences and

risk-taking. Research in psychology and economics suggests this may occur through

improved integration of information and broadened focus of attention in happier

individuals. 55 Thus, happier individuals may be better able to evaluate the

implications of decisions with short and long term trade-offs, resulting in decisions

that reflect greater self-control and appropriate risk-taking.

Well-being can influence how individuals evaluate outcomes that may occur

in the present or future – a concept known in economics as time preference, or

discounting. In survey and experimental evidence, Ifcher and Zarghamee (2011a)

found that subjective well-being and positive affect were associated with less

preference for consumption in the present relative to the future. Using a randomized

assignment experiment, they observed that among the group where greater positive

affect was induced, participants were less likely to discount future payments, i.e. they

were more likely to give up a smaller payment in the current period to receive a larger

payment at a later point in time. This implies that individuals with greater positive

affect may be more able to exercise self-control or delay gratification (i.e. foregoing

smaller short term benefits in order to receive greater benefits in the future or to avoid

longer term costs). Happy individuals are motivated to pursue long-term goals despite

short-term costs.56 Fry (1975) found that children placed in a happy mood better

resisted temptation. Additionally, Lerner and Weber (2012) found in lab experiments

that inducing sadness among participants led to a greater discounting of future

rewards than those in a neutral state. Moreover, lack of self-control is also related to

over-consumption, obesity, and financial decisions, suggesting that changes in well-

being may influence their prevalence.57

Greater self-control and longer-term time preferences among happier people

have been linked to consumption and saving behavior. Guven (2012) analyzed two

representative longitudinal household surveys in the Netherlands and Germany to

estimate the causal relationship (if any) between happiness and consumption and

saving behaviors. The regression results found that happier people were more likely to

save more and consume less than others. Further, happier people had different

expectations about the future than those less happy. These individuals were more

optimistic about the future, took more time when making decisions, and had higher

perceived life expectancies (i.e. moving from “neither happy or unhappy” to “happy”

was associated with 1.1 year increase in perceived life expectancy).58 Thus, happier

individuals may be more forward-thinking and willing to consider the long-term

implications of decisions taken in the present, leading to “better” decisions for

themselves and society.

The probability of being re-employed has also been linked to individual

happiness. Among individuals recently entering unemployment in Germany, Krause

(2012) found a statistically significant positive relationship between job seekers with

higher than average well-being and the probability of re-employment within a year.

Additionally, these individuals were more likely to enter into self-employment,

suggesting a link between happiness and entrepreneurship. Interestingly, the effect of

happiness on re-employment decreased at the extremes, indicating that an “optimal”

level of happiness may exist.

Research on individual risk-taking provides evidence of a relationship

between happiness and risk-related behavior. According to economic theory, happier

individuals have more to lose from engaging in risky behavior that may carry the risk

of injury or death. Happier individuals should therefore be more willing to engage in

activities that reduce risk. Goudie et al. (forthcoming) found that seatbelt use and not

being involved in a motor vehicle accident were both more likely among those with

higher subjective well-being (see Figure 3 with respect to seatbelt use). In a

representative sample of 313,354 US households, the authors estimated that

individuals who reported being “very satisfied” with life were 5.3% more likely to

always wear a seatbelt in the survey, even after controlling for potentially

confounding factors. When Goudie et al. (forthcoming) looked at the probability of

motor vehicle accidents, they found that individuals with higher levels of life

satisfaction were less likely to be involved in an accident several years later59. While

these statistical analyses cannot fully rule out the possibility of reverse causality, the

results are robust to including a number of confounding variables and provide strong

evidence for a positive relationship between happiness and risk-avoiding behavior.

Figure 3: Frequency of seatbelt use by subjective well-being in a US

representative sample

Notes: Figure from Goudie et al. (forthcoming). Data is from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance

System, a random-digit telephone survey in the US, N=313,354. Pearson’s chi-squared statistic =

3,242, p-value < 2.2 x 10-16. Cross-tabulation figures indicate that subjective well-being and seatbelt

use are strongly correlated but this does not account for other factors that may explain this relationship.

Goudie et al. (2013) use regression analysis to control for other potentially confounding factors and

find the association is robust to these controls. Individuals who report they are “very satisfied” with life

are 5.3% more likely to state they always wear a seatbelt. The authors also find that subjective well-

being at the time of the survey is statistically significantly associated with a lower probability of having

a motor vehicle accident several years later (even after controlling for confounding factors).

Research studies also indicate a powerful link between high subjective well-

being and social behavior, such as being a better friend, colleague, neighbor, and

citizen. People who are in a positive mood see others more inclusively and

sympathetically. For example, they are less biased against other ethnic groups.60

Nelson (2009) found that people in a positive mood induction condition, as compared

to neutral and negative mood conditions, showed greater compassion, perspective

taking, and sympathy for a person experiencing distress.

Individuals who report high subjective well-being give more to their

communities — in both time and money. Morrison et al. (2012) found that both life

satisfaction and positive feelings predicted reports of donating money to charity,

helping a stranger, and volunteering activities. Oishi et al. (2007) found that happier

people volunteer more. Aknin et al. (2013) found in a study of 136 countries that

prosocial uses of money by happy people generalized across regions of the world.

However, further research is underway to clarify the causal relationship between

prosocial spending and happiness. Priller and Shupp (2011) found slightly higher

rates of blood donation, as well as monetary giving to charity, among happier

individuals. They also found that those who were satisfied with their incomes were

more likely to donate money to worthy causes.

Do happy moods cause the helping behavior and good citizenship? It is a

consistent finding in social psychology experiments that when people are induced into

a good mood, by various means, they are more likely to help others.61 These

experimental studies in which people who are put into a good mood and compared to

those in a neutral mood leave little doubt that happier feelings generally tend to

increase helping. The fact that people give both more time and money when they are

put into a positive mood in an experiment indicates that being happy raises prosocial

Proportion of individuals

Increasing SWB

Very satisfied

Satisfied

Dissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

Always Nearly always Sometimes Seldom Never

Seatbelt use:

Sample size n=3295

n=13524

n=152021

n=144514

FIGURE 1

FREQUENCY OF SEATBELT USE CROSS-TABULATED BY SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING (SWB).

EACH CATEGORY CONTAINS AT LEAST 101 INDIVIDUALS.PEARSON’SCHI-SQUARED

STATISTIC IS 3242 (P-VAL U E p<2.2⇥1016).

behavior.62 Aknin et al. (2012) suggest that the relation between mood and helping is

circular as shown in Figure 4. When people are in a good mood they tend to help

others; helping others in turn fosters a good mood. Thus, friends, family, neighbors,

and the society as a whole tend to profit from happy people because these individuals

are more likely to be helpful to others.

Figure 4: Model of positive feedback loop between prosocial spending and

happiness

Notes: Figure from Aknin, Dunn and Norton (2012). The model posits that prosocial spending

promotes happiness and, in turn, happiness improves the probability of future prosocial spending.

Having supportive relationships boosts subjective well-being, but having high

subjective well-being in turn leads to better social relationships.63 Thus, good

relationships both cause happiness and are caused by it. Two major reasons why

happiness benefits social relationships are because happiness increases a person’s

level of sociability and also improves the quality of social interactions. Happier

people have a larger quantity and better quality of friendships and family

relationships.64

Frequent positive emotions create a tendency in people to be more sociable. In

a laboratory experiment people placed in a positive mood expressed greater interest in

social and prosocial activities compared to those in a neutral condition, whereas those

placed in a negative mood indicated lower interest in social activities.65 This pattern

was replicated in a second study that found an interest in social and prosocial

activities among those in a good mood. People who were placed in a good mood

expected social activities to be more rewarding than those not placed in a good mood.

Similarly, other experimental studies have demonstrated that inducing happiness, in

contrast to sadness, makes people more likely to express liking for others they meet

for the first time.66 On the other hand, the absence of positive feelings is accompanied

by feeling bored, unsociable, uninterested in things, slowed down, and unenergetic,

reflecting a lack of active involvement with the environment and other people.67 It has

also been shown that depressed individuals cause others to react in a negative

manner.68 This can lead to unwillingness to have future interactions with those who

have low happiness.

The links between positive moods and sociability are not just in terms of

feeling sociable, but translate into actual behavior. Cunningham (1988a) discovered

that people in an induced positive mood condition compared to a negative mood

2 Method

Fifty-one individuals (51% female, M

age

=20.3) on the University of British Columbia

campus were asked to recall and describe in as much detail as possible the last time they

spent either $20 or $100 on either themselves or someone else. That is, participants were

randomly assigned to one of four recall conditions in a 2 (spending amount: $20 vs. $100)

92 (purchase target: self vs. someone else) design. Recall instructions were designed to

elicit vivid reminiscence and modeled on those used by Strack et al. (1985). After

describing this memory, participants reported their happiness on the Subjective Happiness

Scale (a=.86; Lyubomirsky and Lepper 1999).

Next, participants were offered a choice between two monetary windfall amounts ($5

vs. $20) and two different ways to spend this money. These four spending options were

selected to map on to the conditions used in previous research (Dunn et al. 2008), enabling

comparison across studies. Consistent with this previous research, participants were told

they could spend the money on (1) a bill, expense, or gift for themselves (personal

spending) or (2) on a gift for someone else or donation to charity (prosocial spending).

Participants were told that they should choose whichever option would make them the

happiest and that once their decision was made, they would receive the appropriate amount

of money with a reminder of the spending guidelines. Importantly, this procedure was

conducted in an anonymous fashion to mitigate social desirability concerns by giving

participants cue cards labeled A, B, C, or D on one side with a condition description on the

other side (Fig. 2). Participants were informed that all research assistants were unaware of

which condition assignment corresponded to each letter, so the research assistants would

never know which spending experience they had selected. Participants were given several

minutes to read the spending descriptions on the cue cards and choose their spending

experience. After deciding, participants informed the research assistant of their choice

using the appropriate letter (A, B, C, or D) and then received an envelope with the windfall

amount and a spending direction reminder.

Fig. 1 Model of positive

feedback loop between prosocial

spending and happiness. Recalled

acts of prosocial spending lead to

higher levels of happiness.

Happiness, in turn, increases the

likelihood of engaging in future

acts of prosocial spending

Although this procedure was carefully designed to minimize social desirability concerns, it is conceivable

that some participants who selected the prosocial spending option actually intended to spend the money on

themselves. This possibility is unlikely given that previous work has shown that the majority of participants

are quite willing to express a preference for spending money on themselves, even when social desirability

concerns are higher (Dunn et al. 2008). In addition, research suggests that making an initial commitment to

engage in prosocial behavior does lead to longer term prosocial behaviour (Nelson and Norton 2005).

Happiness Runs in a Circular Motion 349

123

condition were more talkative. Mehl et al. (2010) monitored people's everyday

conversations for four days and assessed happiness through both self-reports and

informant reports. They found that happy participants spent about 25% less time alone

and about 70% more time talking when they were with others. Furthermore, the happy

participants engaged in less small talk and more substantive conversations compared

to their unhappy peers.

Recent evidence shows the happiness-relationship link occurs across cultures.

Lucas et al. (2000) found that across the world positive feelings were associated with

tendencies for affiliation, dominance, venturesomeness, and social interaction.

Similarly, a world survey of 123 nations found that the experience of positive feelings

was strongly related to good social relationships across different socio-cultural

regions.69

Happy people are not just more sociable; they also experience higher-quality

social relationships. Kazdin et al. (1982) found that children put in a positive mood

showed greater social skills and confidence in social behavior than those not put in a

good mood. Boehm and Lyubomirsky (2008) reviewed evidence showing that happy

people tend to be more popular and likable. One study showed that reports of better

interaction quality were not merely a function of the happy person’s perceptions, but

that observers similarly rated happier individuals as having better interactions with

strangers.70

Happiness has the potential to generate positive snowball effects in society.

Research has shown that people who are happier are likely to bring happiness to those

around them, resulting in networks of happier individuals. It was found that happiness

extends up to three degrees of separation, and longitudinal models show that

individuals who are surrounded by happy people are likely to become happier in the

future.71

Happiness can also have effects on the long-term quality of relationships.

Luhmann et al. (2013) found that unmarried people high in life satisfaction are more

likely to get married in the following years and less likely to get separated or divorced

if they get married. Conversely, Stutzer and Frey (2006) found low life satisfaction

prior to courtship predicted later dissolution of the marriage.

Depression, which is characterized by low or absent positive feelings, creates

problems in social relationships such as divorce, limited social support, and distancing

from one’s neighbors.72 Even minor depression results in problems in social relations,

such as higher rates of divorce.73 Even those recovering from depression show

impairments in the social and occupational domains.74 In addition, clinical depression

interferes with executive functioning, which is a hallmark of human’s special adaptive

abilities. For example, Fossati et al. (2002) review evidence indicating that depressed

individuals suffer deficits in problem solving and planning. Snyder (2012) reviewed

extensive evidence showing that depressed people suffer substantially from broad

impairments in executive functions, such as planning, with strong effect sizes varying

from 0.32 to 0.97.

In sum, there is substantial evidence connecting positive moods to higher

sociability and better quality of social relationships, and the opposite is the case for

negative moods and depression. Happier people enjoy the company of others, and

find that interacting with people is more rewarding compared to less happy

individuals. Others in turn enjoy interacting with happy individuals. Those high in

subjective well-being thus have more rewarding and stable social relationships.

III. Moderation, mediation, and the evolutionary role of happiness

Although happy people and societies have a number of advantages, this does

not imply that high subjective well-being is a panacea for everything. To illustrate,

happiness can facilitate good health but is not a guarantee of it. Happy individuals

may die at a young age. However, on average they will live longer. We can make

statements about the effects of average happiness using the notion of ceteris paribus

(i.e. assuming “all other things being equal”) because in particular cases there will be

other factors that override the influence of high subjective well-being.

Not every study has found positive benefits for long-term happiness. A few

studies find no differences between happier and less happy individuals, and the rare

study has shown opposite effects. This is common in research because of sampling,

methodology, and other differences between studies. Nonetheless, reviews that

summarize results across studies have virtually always shown benefits for high

subjective well-being. One reason for the few null findings is that happiness will not

show its value in all samples and contexts. For instance, for young adults there might

be no differences in health or longevity due to happiness because young adults very

rarely die and mostly have healthy bodies. The results of happiness and unhappiness

become more manifest as adults age. Similarly, one would not be surprised if

happiness did not reduce divorce in a nation where divorce is virtually nonexistent.

Another caution about the conclusion that happiness is desirable is that people

do not need to be constantly euphoric or ecstatic. Happy people most of the time feel

merely pleasant – a mild positive state. Only occasionally do happy people feel

intensely positive. Oishi et al. (2007) found that although the happiest individuals did

very well in social relationships, the moderately happy – not 100% satisfied – often

did the best in achievement domains. There is evidence that frequent high-arousal

emotions could be harmful to health.75 Krause (2012) shows that re-employment

prospects actually decreased for those with extreme levels of happiness. Furthermore,

in a randomized lab experiment, Ifcher and Zarghamee (2011b) found that positive

affect increased overconfidence among participants in the treatment group. Thus,

extremely high happiness is not a recipe for extremely effective functioning, and in

fact, moderate happiness can be more helpful.

It is important to note that happy people also occasionally feel unhappy, and

this is not necessarily undesirable. Gruber et al. (2011) and Forgas (2007), as well as

others, have shown that in some situations negative emotions can help people to

respond more effectively. Thus, happiness does not mean a complete absence of

negative feelings. The happy person, however, does not feel chronic negative

feelings; he or she experiences negative feelings only occasionally, not frequently,

and in appropriate situations.

An important question that is receiving increasing attention is how well-being

and positive emotions may influence life outcomes. This is an emerging area of

research with important contributions from psychology and neuroscience. The

pathways leading from happiness to the life outcomes discussed in this paper can

either be direct or be subject to moderation and/or mediation by other variables that

influence the effect that subjective well-being may have on a trait or outcome of

interest. Our discussion here is mostly on mediating pathways that may carry some

part of the influence of happiness onto the outcome of interest and thus help explain

the relationship. One branch of thinking in psychology posits that positive emotions

broaden cognitive capacity and attention, allowing individuals to engage in the

behaviors and build the skills associated with better health, productivity, and social

interaction.76 Evidence from lab experiments provides initial backing for this theory.

For example, Fredrickson and Branigan (2005) found that participants where positive

emotions were induced showed greater scope of cognition and attention in

psychological tests.

Studies focusing on neurological processes also support this approach and

provide evidence for a connection between well-being and brain structure.

Experiments using brain imaging to monitor participants’ neurological processes have

reported that positive affect is associated with activity in a part of the brain that is

associated with “exploratory modes of thought and behavior.”77 Further, Schmitz et

al. (2009) found that affect can also alter neurological processing of visual stimuli –

specifically, positive affect led to a widening of individuals’ field of vision. Small-

scale trials of the effect of mindfulness training, a type of meditation that has been

linked to improved well-being in psychological studies, have also been shown to

increase grey matter in parts of the brain that are believed to regulate cognition and

emotion.78 Happiness may therefore be linked to neurological and cognitive processes

that influence human behavior and particularly to behaviors that require broader and

more integrative thinking (e.g. considering benefits over a longer time period or

helping others).

In a promising new development in the study of mediating pathways between

subjective well-being and health outcomes, Fredrickson and colleagues (2013)

provide preliminary evidence for different epigenetic dynamics as a result of varying

levels and types of happiness. The authors find that varied states of well-being

influence gene expression with particular relevance to genotypes underlying the

immune system. Although the study is small-scale and is mostly interested in the

epigenetic effects of different types of well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic well-

being) it opens a promising new direction in the study of how happiness may

influence health outcomes.

In their study of happiness in young adulthood and earnings later in life, De

Neve & Oswald (2012) shed light on the potential pathways between happiness and

income in a longitudinal survey. Their mediation tests reveal a direct effect as well as

indirect effects that carry the influence from happiness to income. Significant

mediating pathways include obtaining a college degree and a job, higher degrees of

optimism and extraversion, and less neuroticism.79

Given the increasing evidence for a strong connection between happiness and

behavior, a handful of studies have started to investigate the role of well-being in

human evolution. Happiness is argued to play a role in promoting evolutionary

success in two possible ways: (1) the experience of happiness acts as a reward for

behaviors that increase the likelihood of evolutionary success (e.g. survival,

reproduction, resource accumulation, etc.); or, alternatively, (2) given that happiness

is beneficial to survival and other important life outcomes (such as those discussed

throughout this paper), it has persisted as an evolutionary characteristic.

Happiness as a reward mechanism for evolutionarily-advantageous behaviors

has been explored in psychological and neurological research. A review of laboratory

experiments by Wise (2004) highlighted the critical role dopamine plays in the

neurological learning processes that embed how the brain anticipates reward and

prompts action to obtain this reward. For example, Wise (2004) discusses a study

where mice whose dopamine production is impaired are less able to undertake

previously learned tasks to receive a reward (e.g. pressing a certain lever to receive

food). Psychologists have argued elsewhere that positive affect and dopamine levels

are connected.80 They hypothesize that the positive affect feedback from goal-directed

behavior and the associated dopamine production are crucial to understanding how

humans “learn” what behaviors and habits promote evolutionary success. This fits

with other evolutionary theories that suggest the pursuit and experience of happiness

incentivizes and increases the probability of successfully engaging in behaviors that

improve health, productivity, and reproduction.81

Diener et al. (forthcoming) find that in a globally representative sample, 70%

of respondents reported enjoying much of the previous day.82 The fact that happiness

is a relatively common human trait can be considered indicative of its important role

in evolutionary fitness. The authors also review the evidence that “positive mood

offset,” or the presence of positive mood in a neutral state, is associated with

characteristics, such as longevity, material and social resource accumulation, and

fertility, that have allowed humans to propagate successfully.

IV. Conclusion

Existing scientific evidence indicates that subjective well-being has an

objective impact across a broad range of behavioral traits and life outcomes, and does

not simply follow from them. In fact, we observe the existence of a dynamic

relationship between happiness and other important aspects of our lives with effects

running in both directions. Experimental research in which moods and emotions are

induced in some participants and their actions are compared to a control group show

that positive moods lead to creativity, sociability, altruism, and beneficial

physiological patterns. Levels of subjective well-being are found to predict future

health, mortality, productivity, and income, controlling statistically for other possible

determinants. For example, young people who are less happy many years before they

meet their future spouse later show higher rates of divorce compared to their happier

peers. Furthermore, predictions in the other direction, from conditions to subjective

well-being (that is, conditions influencing happiness) are also positive, helping to

create feedback loops that may raise the longer-term happiness effects.

Although high subjective well-being tends to help people function better, it is

of course not magic or a cure-all. Happy people do get sick and do lose friends. Not

all happy people are productive workers. Happiness is like any other factor that aids

health and functioning—all other things being equal it is likely (but not guaranteed) to

help. Needless to say that many other factors such as personality, intelligence, and

social capital are also important for good functioning.

It is important to emphasize that research does not prescribe extreme bliss but,

rather, tentative evidence suggests that a moderate degree of happiness tends to be

“optimal” for the effects surveyed in this paper. Thus, a desirable level of happiness

would imply feeling mildly to moderately positive most of the time, with occasional

negative emotions in appropriate situations.

There is initial evidence about the processes that mediate between happiness

and beneficial outcomes. For instance, happiness is associated with greater

cooperation, motivation, and creativity, which in turn are instrumental to success in

business, and in life as a whole. Conversely, depression creates problems, such as

illness and quitting one’s job more frequently, that all lead to less success in the

workplace. Similarly, positive feelings harness the immune system and lead to fewer

cardiovascular problems, whereas anxiety and depression are linked to poorer health

behaviors and problematical physiological indicators, such as inflammation. Thus, a

causal mechanism of happiness on health and longevity can be understood with the

mediating mechanisms that are now being uncovered. Research in the field of

neuroscience provides further prospects for new scientific insights on mediating

pathways between happiness to behavioral traits and socio-economic outcomes of

interest.

It naturally follows from this survey that it is important to balance economic

measures of societal progress with measures of subjective well-being, to ensure that

economic progress leads to broad improvements across life domains, not just greater

economic capacity. By assessing subjective well-being as well as economic variables,

a society can gauge whether overall net progress is positive in terms of raising human

well-being. Diener et al. (2009) detail the case for national accounts of well-being.

Most arguments for putting happiness more center-stage in policy-making have been

normative in nature; happiness is what would appear to matter most to most people.

The aim of this paper is to complement and inform the normative reasoning with a

survey of the “hard” evidence on the benefits of subjective well-being across

outcomes of importance, such as health, income, and social behavior. A better

understanding of the objective benefits of raising happiness may help in estimating

the potential impact of making happiness more central in policy-making and in

enhancing policy evaluation by informing cost-benefit analyses. Indeed, an argument

could be constructed that raising subjective well-being leads to positive externalities

or spillover effects across a number of policy domains, ranging from health to traffic

safety. Given the tangible benefits to individuals and societies of moderately high

well-being, it is imperative that we act to effectively put well-being at the heart of

policy and generate the conditions that allow everyone to flourish.

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1 Appleton et al. (2011); Slopen et al. (2012).

2 Edwards & Cooper (1988); Kiecolt-Glaser, McGuire, Robles, & Glaser (2002); Cohen, Doyle,

Turner, Alper, & Skoner (2003).

3 Bhattacharyya, Whitehead, Rakhit, & Steptoe (2008).

4 Ong (2010); Steptoe, Wardle, & Marmot (2005); Steptoe, Dockray, & Wardle (2009).

5 Ostir, Markides, Peek, & Goodwin (2001); Davidson, Mostofsky, & Whang (2010); Cohen et al.

(2003).

6 Blanchflower, Oswald, & Stewart-Brown (2012); Stepney (1982); Pettay (2008); Schneider, Graham,

Grant, King, & Cooper (2009); Garg, Wansink, & Inman (2007); Strine et al. (2008a, 2008b); Grant,

Wardle, & Steptoe (2009); Kubzansky, Gilthorpe, & Goodman (2012).

7 Fredrickson (2001); Fredrickson & Levenson (1998); Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan, & Tugade

(2000).

8 Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen (2001); Pressman & Cohen (2012); Wiest, Schuz, Webster, & Wurm

(2011); Russ et al. (2012); Bush et al. (2001); Chida & Steptoe (2008); Epel et al. (2004); Steptoe &

Wardle (2011).

9 Oswald, Proto, & Sgroi (2012).

10 Peterson, Luthans, Avolio, Walumbwa, & Zhang (2011).

11 Ashby, Valentin, & Turken (2002); Jovanovic & Brdaric (2012); Leitzel (2001); Isen, Daubman, &

Nowicki (1987); Amabile, Barsade, Mueller, & Staw (2005); George & Zhou (2007); Baas, De Dreu,

& Nijstad (2008); Davis (2009).

12 Baron, Fortin, Frei, Hauver, & Shack (1990); Barsade (2002); Carnevale (2008); Forgas (1998);

Baron (1990); Baron, Rea, & Daniels (1992); Carnevale & Isen (1986); Lawler, Thye, & Yoon (2000);

Hertel, Neuhof, Theuer, & Kerr (2000); Lount (2010).

13 Judge, Piccolo, Podsakoff, Shaw, & Rich (2010); Diener, Nickerson, Lucas, & Sandvik (2002);

Graham, Eggers, & Sandip (2004); Marks & Fleming (1999).

14 De Neve & Oswald (2012).

15 Bockerman & Ilmakunnas (2012); Harter, Schmidt, Asplund, Killham, & Agrawal (2010); Edmans

(2011, 2012).

16 Ifcher & Zarghamee (2011a).

17 Aspinwall (1998); Fry (1975).

18 Guven (2009).

19 Krause (2012).

20 Goudie, Mukherjee, De Neve, Oswald, & Wu (forthcoming).

21 Morrison, Tay, & Diener (2012); Oishi, Diener, & Lucas (2007); Aknin et al. (2013).

22 Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener (2005); Myers (2000); Diener & Seligman (2002); Cunningham

(1988b); Baron (1987, 1990); Berry & Hansen (1996).

23 Cunningham (1988b); Mehl, Vazire, Holleran, & Clark (2010).

24 Lucas, Diener, Grob, Suh, & Shao (2000); Tay & Diener (2011); Fowler & Christakis (2008).

25 Chida & Steptoe (2008); Cohen & Pressman (2006); Diener & Chan (2011); Howell, Kern, &

Lyubomirsky (2007); Lyubomirsky et al. (2005); Pressman & Cohen (2005).

26 Appleton et al. (2011); Slopen et al. (2012).

27 Edwards & Cooper (1988); Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (2002).

28 Ostir et al. (2001).

29 Christian, Graham, Padgett, Glaser, & Kiecolt-Glaser (2006).

30 Tay & Diener (2011).

31 Cacioppo & Patrick (2008).

32 Boehm & Kubzansky (2012); Boehm, Peterson, Kivimaki, & Kubzansky (2011).

33 Fredrickson et al. (2000); Fredrickson (1998).

34 Bray & Gunnell (2006).

35 Smith, Glazer, Ruiz, & Gallo (2004).

36 Dinan (2009).

37 Gotz, Martin, & Volker (2008); Neggers, Goldenberg, Cliver, & Hauth (2006); Wisner et al. (2009).

38 Field, Diego, & Hernandez-Reif (2006); Field et al. (2009); Orr & Miller (1995); Williamson et al.

(2008).

39 Pelled & Xin (1999).

40 Ashby et al. (2002); Jovanovic & Brdaric (2012).

41 Isen et al. (1987).

42 Baas et al. (2008); Davis (2009).

43 Baron et al. (1990); Barsade (2002); Carnevale (2008); Forgas (1998).

44 Baron et al. (1990); Baron, Rea, & Daniels (1992).

45 Carnevale, & Isen (1986).

46 Lawler, Thye, & Yoon, (2000).

47 Hertel et al. (2000); Lount (2010).

48 Judge & Kinger (2007).

49 Judge, Thoreson, Bono, & Patton (2001).

50 Riketta (2008).

51 Judge et al. (2010).

52 Diener, Nickerson, Lucas, & Sandvik (2002; Graham, Eggers, & Sandip (2004); Marks & Fleming

(1999).

53 De Neve (2011); De Neve, Christakis, Fowler, & Frey (2012); Rietveld et al. (2013).

54 Similarly, Edmans (2011, 2012) found evidence consistent with the importance of employee

satisfaction for firm performance.

55 Fredrickson & Branigan (2005); Estrada, Isen, & Young (1997); Isen, Rosenzweig, & Young (1991).

56 Aspinwall (1998).

57 Guven (2012).

58 Ibid.

59 Goudie et al. (forthcoming) estimate that the probability of being involved in an accident is reduced

by a factor of about 0.9.

60 Johnson & Fredrickson (2005).

61 Carlson, Charlin, & Miller (1988).

62 Anik, Aknin, Norton, & Dunn (2009).

63 Lyubomirsky et al. (2005); Myers (2000).

64 Diener & Seligman (2002).

65 Cunningham (1988b).

66 Baron (1987); Baron (1990).

67 Watson et al. (1995).

68 Coyne (1976).

69 Tay & Diener (2011).

70 Berry & Hansen (1996).

71 Fowler & Christakis (2008).

72 Gotlib & Hammen (2009).

73 Beck & Koenig (1996).

74 Romera et al. (2010).

75 Pressman & Cohen (2005).

76 Fredrickson (1998, 2001); Fredrickson & Branigan (2005); Kok et al. (2013).

77 Schmitz, De Rosa, & Anderson (2009).

78 Hölzela et al. (2011).

79 De Neve & Oswald (2012).

80 Ashby, Isen, & Turken (1999).

81 Lyubomirsky & Boehm (2010); Graham & Oswald (2010).

82 The Gallup World Poll is a representative sample of 941,161 individuals from 160 nations.

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