The Scientific Study of Wants and Well-Being

Harvard FAS

This seminar explores what existing research tells us about the determinants of well-being, how they relate to the choices that people make, and how researchers (especially economists) go about quantifying wants and well-being in a way that permits them to study the effects of different institutions (such as markets) on well-being. The seminar will begin with a presentation of the most basic approach within economics: Attempting to capture the notion of rational pursuit of our own well-being…