Richard Easterlin

Email easterl@usc.edu
Center, Institute & Lab Affiliations
- USC Pop Lab,
Education
- Ph.D. , University of Pennsylvania, 1/1953
- M.A. , University of Pennsylvania, 1949
- M.S. , Stevens Institute of Technology, 1948
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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.
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Book
- Easterlin, R. A. (2004). The Reluctant Economist: Perspectives on Economics, Economic History, and Demography. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Book Chapters
- 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.
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- 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
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Committees
- Director or Undergraduate Studies, 2010-2011
- Advisor to Provost,
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Editorships and Editorial Boards
- Associate Editor, Journal of Happiness Studies”, 2006 –
- Associate Editor, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization”, 2004 – 2008