Description
Book SynopsisEconomic growth is generally regarded by governments and most ordinary people as a panacea for all problems, including issues caused by the COVID pandemic. But this raises an important question: is further growth in advanced economies able to increase well-being once people's basic subsistence needs are met? Some advanced market economies, e.g. the United States, have exhibited a decline in well-being, both subjectively and objectively measured, over several decades despite seeing economic growth during the same period.
This book provides an original and comprehensive explanation: economic growth, as driven by market forces, induces people, through both the demand- and supply-side channels, to pursue command over more material resources, and this weakens the self-generation of capabilities, putting well-being at risk of deterioration. The book argues, with the support of a variety of evidence, that the challenge can be overcome if governments' policies and people's choices pu
Trade Review
"Given its stated aims, the book has a very appropriate structure that helps the development and comprehension of its theses. The topics are constructed in a systematic and careful manner, and each chapter provides a very useful literature review...The book is not only valuable for scholars working in the area of happiness research, but also for a much larger readership with an interest of the current problems that modern advanced economies are facing and the possible ways to tackle them."
Stavros A. Drakopoulos, Journal of Economic Psychology
Table of ContentsIntroduction and Summary Prologue Chapter 1. Economic growth and people’s well-being in advanced countries Chapter 2. Human development and well-being Chapter 3. Why growth in market economies can deteriorate human development and well-being Chapter 4. Economic growth and human development: which priority in the post-pandemic era? Epilogue
