Faculty

Education

• M.S. , Stevens Institute of Technology, 1948
• M.A. , University of Pennsylvania, 1949
• Ph.D. , University of Pennsylvania, 1/1953



Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests

Professor Easterlin studies changes in subjective well-being over the life cycle, applying the demographers’ technique of cohort analysis to social survey data. The aim is to clarify the role in determining well-being of circumstances such as living levels, family life, health, job conditions, and personality, and the reasons for the paradoxical relation between income and subjective well-being. At a point in time, there is a positive association between subjective well-being and size of income, but over time there is no improvement in subjective well-being as income increases.



Affiliations with Research Centers, Labs, and Other Institutions

• USC Pop Lab,http://www.usc.edu/org/pop/intro.html



Publications




Book

• Easterlin, R. A. (2004). The Reluctant Economist: Perspectives on Economics, Economic History, and Demography. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.



Book Chapter

• Easterlin, R. A. (2006). Building a Better Theory of Well-being. (Vol. 29-64). Oxford University Press.
• Easterlin, R. A. (2004). Life Satisfaction: Can We Produce It?. pp. p. 347-357. Norwell, MA: Challenges for Quality of Life in the Contemporary World/Kluwer Academic Press.
• Easterlin, R. A. (2004). The Story of a Reluctant Economist. (Vol. NA). Cheltenham: Reflections of Eminent Economists/Edward Elgar.



Journal Article

• Easterlin, R. A. (2011). The Impact of Modern Economic Growth on Urban-Rural Differences in Subjective Well Being. World Development.
• Easterlin, R. A. (2010). The happiness–income paradox revisited. PNAS.
• Easterlin, R. A. (2007). Modern Economic Growth and Quality of Life: Cross-Sectional and Time Series Evidence. Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research.
• Easterlin, R. A., Sirgy, M., Michalos, A. C., Ferriss, A. C., Patrick, D., Pavot, W. (2006). The Quality-of-Life (QOL) Research Movement: Past, Present, and Future. Social Indicators Research/Springer. pp. p.343-466.
• Easterlin, R. A. (2006). Life Cycle Happiness and Its Sources: Intersection of Psychology, Economics and Demography. Journal of Economic Psychology/Elsevier. pp. p.463-482.
• Zimmermann, A. C., Easterlin, R. A. (2006). Happily Ever After? Marriage, Divorce, and Happiness in Germany. Population and Development Review/Blackwell. pp. p.511-528.
• Easterlin, R. A. (2005). Feeding the Illusion of Growth and Happiness: A Reply to Hagerty and Veenhoven. Social Indicators Research/Springer. pp. p. 429 - 443.
• Easterlin, R. A. (2005). Diminishing Marginal Utility of Income? Caveat Emptor. Social Indicators Research/Springer. pp. p. 243-255.
• Easterlin, R. A. (2005). A Puzzle for Adaptive Theory. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization/Elsevier. pp. p. 513-521.
• Easterlin, R. A. (2004). The Economics of Happiness. Daedalus/MIT Press. pp. p. 26 - 33.




Honors and Awards

• Distinguished Fellow, American Economic Association, 2006-  
• National Academy Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2002-  
• USC University Professor, 1999-  
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow, Fellow, 1978-  
• President of Western Economic Association International, 2010-2011   
• President Elect of Western Economic Association International, 2009-2010   
• Guggenheim Fellowship Recipient, 1988-1989  
• USC Raubenheimer Outstanding Senior Faculty Award, 1988  
• President, Economic History Association, 1979-1980  
• President, Population Association of America, 1978  



Service to the University

Committees

• Director or Undergraduate Studies, 2010-2011   
• Advisor to Provost, Fall 2010   



Service to the Profession




Editorships and Editorial Boards

• Associate Editor, Journal of Happiness Studies, 2006-  
• Associate Editor, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2004-2008  



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