Chapter 4

Consequences of Happiness

Abstract Happiness has various effects: Persons considering themselves to be

happy act differently in many life circumstances. Happier persons are more pro-
ductive, in better health, and therefore live longer. The positive consequences of
happiness are illustrated using the case of health. The effects can be captured by var-
ious methods: A large number of persons are observed over many years; emotions
can be manipulated in laboratory experiments; and the impact on health of personal
misfortunes such as the loss of a marital partner can be explored. Often it is difficult
to establish in which direction the relationship between cause and effect works. To
identify the direction, lottery winners are analysed. This analysis shows that higher
income and wealth indeed raise happiness, though only for a short period.

The Importance of Several Joint Influences

How important are the various determinants of subjective well-being? The results
of happiness research clearly indicate that the private sphere is as important as the
public domain. Thus, both work and leisure strongly determine people’s happiness.
Individuals derive satisfaction not only from income but also from work and social
relationships. Self-determination and the opportunity to use one’s own competencies
are a precondition for engaging in activities providing happiness. In addition, the
process by which the results are reached also provides satisfaction. This is well
expressed by the saying that “the journey is the reward”.
The most important aspects of life providing happiness are satisfying work, a
good material living standard, family and friends, leisure, and health. The every-
day elements of life are central to our subjective well-being. As has been pointed
out, political participation rights also impact our well-being. The absence of wars,
terrorism, and civil war are other crucial requirements for a happy life.

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer International Publishing AG, 21

part of Springer Nature 2018
B. S. Frey, Economics of Happiness, SpringerBriefs in Economics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75807-7_4
22 4 Consequences of Happiness

The Effects of Happiness

People considering themselves to be happy act differently in many life circumstances.

Happier people are more successful on the job market. The more satisfied that people
are with their lives, the more willing they are to work hard. Such people work more
intensively, with greater engagement, and are more creative; this leads to a higher
per-capita income for individuals and the country as a whole.
A positive correlation is also obtained for the marriage market. It is easier for
happier people to find an attractive partner, and they are less lonely. Happier people
are more cooperative and more inclined to help others.

The positive consequences of happiness are illustrated using the case of health:
Happy people are in better health and live longer. Voltaire (1694–1778) quipped:
“J’ai decidé d’être heureux parce que c’est bon pour ma santé” (I have decided to be
happy because it’s good for my health).
However, the positive effects on health of happiness are not simply a fairy tale.
This relationship between subjective well-being, physical health, and life expectancy
has been carefully analysed in many studies.
Happiness has been measured in a number of different ways, most importantly
with long-run and evaluative subjective life satisfaction, but also using short-term
positive emotions such as joy and laughing and negative emotions such as grief and
fear.
Happy individuals enjoy longer lives; almost fifteen per cent longer than that of
people considering themselves to be unhappy. In industrial countries, this means that
happy individuals can expect to live around ten years longer than unhappy ones.
Happy people are also less likely to commit suicide. Comparing happiness to other
well-known influences on health, such as smoking or obesity, the influence of life
satisfaction on health and longevity is pronounced.
How can the impact of happiness on physical health and life expectancy be cap-
tured? Several notable methods are available. The most important are the following:
• A large number of individuals are observed over many years whether they are
happier and indeed healthier and live longer than other people. One well-known
instance of this is termed the “nun study”. Before young women join a religious
order and enter a monastery, they are asked to indicate their happiness level. It
turns out that those nuns who considered themselves to be happier before entering
the monastery lived longer than those who stated that they were less happy. Nuns
are particularly well suited for such studies because they spend their lives under
very similar conditions.
• Emotions can be manipulated in laboratory experiments, for example by showing
participants cheerful and sad pictures. The influence of particular physiological
factors whose effect on health is well known can thus be explored.
• The effects on happiness and health of events produced by nature such as tempests
or floods can be analysed. For example, one day after the major 1994 earthquake
The Effects of Happiness 23

in Los Angeles, mortality in the city was five times higher than it was in the weeks
before the event.
• Finally, the impact on health of personal misfortune such as the loss of a marital
partner can be explored. A study has, for example, shown that the mortality of
men who lost their wives in the first month of grief is twice as high as under nor-
mal circumstances. With women whose marriage partner has died, the respective
mortality rate is three times as high.
Studies demonstrate that high subjective life satisfaction and positive emotions con-
tribute to better health and to a longer life. But care must be taken not to associate
happiness with all kinds of illness. In particular, given the present state of knowledge,
it may not be convincingly argued that happiness helps to reduce metastatic cancer.
Empirical studies also find consequences of eudaimonic well-being on health and
length of life. There are protective health benefits, in particular in coping with the
challenges of growing old. Interestingly, eudaimonia also buffers against inequality;
people deal with it in a more philosophical way.

Causality

Often it is difficult to establish in which direction the relationship between cause

and effect works. For instance, it is not obvious whether married people become
happier or happy people find it easier to get married. The same applies to work: Are
employed people happier or is it easier for happy persons to find a job because they
are more active, innovative and open? The same factors can be both determinants
and consequences of subjective well-being.
To answer these questions, it is helpful to consider a specific case, namely lottery
winners. Winning a lottery can be considered an exogenous event independent of
the participant. Therefore, the lottery win can be taken to a cause, while the change
in subjective life satisfaction can be considered a consequence. Lottery winners
indeed state in the following year that they are happier. This allows us to conclude
that higher income and wealth raise happiness, though only for a short time period.
Income produces subjective well-being, most importantly in poor countries below a
certain level of living.

Literature

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Oswald, Andrew J., Eugenio Proto, and Daniel Sgroi. 2015. Happiness and Productivity. Journal
of Labor Economics 33 (4): 789–822.