Revolutionary developments in economics are rare. The conservative biasof the field and its enshrined knowledge make it difficult to introduce new ideasnot in line with received theory. Happiness research, however, has the potential tochange economics substantially in the future. Its findings, which are graduallybeing taken into account in standard economics, can be considered revolutionary inthree respects: the measurement of experienced utility using psychologists' toolsfor measuring subjective well-being; new insights into how human beings value goodsand services and social conditions that include consideration of such non-materialvalues as autonomy and social relations; and policy consequences of these newinsights that suggest different ways for government to affect individual well-being.In Happiness, emphasizing empirical evidence rather than theoretical conjectures, Bruno Frey substantiates these three revolutionary claims for happiness research.After tracing the major developments of happiness research in economics anddemonstrating that we have gained important new insights into how income, unemployment, inflation, and income demonstration affect well-being, Frey examinessuch wide-ranging topics as democracy and federalism, self-employment and volunteerwork, marriage, terrorism, and watching television from the new perspective ofhappiness research. Turning to policy implications, Frey describes how governmentcan provide the conditions for people to achieve well-being, arguing that a crucialrole is played by adequate political institutions and decentralized decision making.Happiness demonstrates the achievements of the economic happiness revolution andpoints the way to future research.Bruno S. Frey is Professor of Economics at theUniversity of Zurich, Visiting Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology, and Research Director of CREMA (Center for Research in Economics, Management, and the Arts). He is co-editor of Economics and Psychology: A PromisingNew Cross-Disciplinary Field (MIT Press, 2007). Revolutionary developments in economics are rare. The conservative biasof the field and its enshrined knowledge make it difficult to introduce new ideasnot in line with received theory. Happiness research, however, has the potential tochange economics substantially in the future. Its findings, which are graduallybeing taken into account in standard economics, can be considered revolutionary inthree respects: the measurement of experienced utility using psychologists' toolsfor measuring subjective well-being; new insights into how human beings value goodsand services and social conditions that include consideration of such non-materialvalues as autonomy and social relations; and policy consequences of these newinsights that suggest different ways for government to affect individual well-being.In Happiness, emphasizing empirical evidence rather than theoretical conjectures, Bruno Frey substantiates these three revolutionary claims for happiness research.After tracing the major developments of happiness research in economics anddemonstrating that we have gained important new insights into how income, unemployment, inflation, and income demonstration affect well-being, Frey examinessuch wide-ranging topics as democracy and federalism, self-employment and volunteerwork, marriage, terrorism, and watching television from the new perspective ofhappiness research. Turning to policy implications, Frey describes how governmentcan provide the conditions for people to achieve well-being, arguing that a crucialrole is played by adequate political institutions and decentralized decision making.Happiness demonstrates the achievements of the economic happiness revolution andpoints the way to future research.Bruno S. Frey is Professor of Economics at theUniversity of Zurich, Visiting Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology, and Research Director of CREMA (Center for Research in Economics, Management, and the Arts). He is co-editor of Economics and Psychology: A PromisingNew Cross-Disciplinary Field (MIT Press, 2007).