Author: Tribe, Keith

Source: Economy and Society, Volume 37, Number 3, August 2008 , pp. 460-468(9)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract:

There is a growing literature suggesting that economic analysis is not after all a dismal science, and that the discipline is capable of reinventing itself as an investigation of the nature and causes of human happiness. Reviewing two recent contributions to this genre, it is suggested that economists do have difficulties substituting 'happiness' for 'utility' as the touchstone for resource allocation, that the importance of 'happiness' in the evaluation of economic policy was well known in the eighteenth century but largely eradicated from the classical economics of the nineteenth and that the recent (re)discovery of 'happiness' by mainstream economics remains partial and unconvincing.

Keywords: happiness; utility; neoclassical economics; wealth; welfare

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03085140802172730

Publication date: 2008-08-01

More about this publication?

• Editorial Board
• Information for Authors
• Subscribe to this Title
• ingentaconnect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

Related content

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Economics ,  Social Science (General)
• By this author: Tribe, Keith

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers