Happiness: Lessons from A New Science , Richard Layard

Happiness: Lessons from A New Science - Richard Layard, 256 pages (March 3, 2005), Allen Lane, ISBN:0713997699

Title & Author:	Happiness: Lessons from A New Science Richard Layard
	Buy Richard Layard, Happiness: Lessons from A New Science at: Amazon.co.uk (40% discount) Amazon.com (34% discount)

Professor Richard Layard is Co-Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics (LSE). Recent UK government policies based substantially on the Centre's work include: the New Deal, Working Families Tax Credit, and the National Minimum Wage. Also, the European Union's current employment policy is largely down to them. Since 2000 Richard Layard has been a member of the House of Lords.

In Happiness: Lessons from A New Science Richard Layard takes lessons from positive psychology  and applies them to social theory. He makes the obvious point that most people want more income. But research has shown that, as societies become richer, people, on average, do not become happier. Richard Layard provides a comprehensive, but never boring, overview of this important research. Equally importantly, he justifies the measurements that have been made of the elusive quality called happiness.

In the First World, people have become unhappier in the last fifty years, even though average income has more than doubled. This is shown not just by self-reporting of happiness and depression, but by objective measurements of crime, alcoholism and suicide. 

Richard Layard: Happiness: Lessons from A New Science is

• In summary,  Happiness: Lessons from A New Science by Richard Layard is a comprehensive overview of happiness in modern societies and how it might be increased through using coherent economic policies.