Publications

Article

Time, Money, and Happiness

By: Cassie Mogilner and Michael I. Norton

We highlight recent research examining how people should manage their most precious resources—time and money—to maximize their happiness. Contrary to people’s intuitions, happiness may be less contingent on the sheer amount of each resource available and more on how... View Details

Keywords: Happiness; Behavior; Resource Allocation; Money

Article

Matchmaking Promotes Happiness

By: Lalin Anik and Michael I. Norton

Four studies document and explore the psychology underlying people's proclivity to connect people to each other—to play "matchmaker." First, Study 1 shows that chronic matchmaking is associated with higher well-being. Studies 2 and 3 show that matching others on the... View Details

Keywords: Happiness; Relationships

April 2005
Article

Partisan Social Happiness

By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch

We use a new approach to study questions in political economy that relies on data on the subjective well-being of a large sample of people living in the OECD over the period 1975-1992. Controlling for the personal characteristics of the respondents, year and country... View Details

Keywords: Political Partisanship; Political Economy; Society; Happiness

November 2003
Article

The Macroeconomics of Happiness

By: Rafael Di Tella, Robert MacCulloch and Andrew J. Oswald

We show that macroeconomic movements have strong effects on the happiness of nations. First, we find that there are clear microeconomic patterns in the psychological well-being levels of a quarter of a million randomly sampled Europeans and Americans from the 1970s to... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Happiness

04 Jan 2018
Cold Call Podcast

How to Monetize Happiness

Keywords: Re: Ethan S. Bernstein; Electronics

September 2017
Case

Sensing (and Monetizing) Happiness at Hitachi

By: Ethan Bernstein and Stephanie Marton

Inspired by research linking happiness and productivity, Hitachi had invested in developing new “people analytics” technologies to help companies increase employee happiness. Hitachi had begun manufacturing high-tech badges that quantify a wearer’s activity patterns.... View Details

Keywords: People Analytics; Japan; Sociometers; Wearables; Interpersonal Communication; Human Resources; Happiness; Technology Industry; Japan

April 2018
Teaching Note

Happy UAE

By: Joshua Schwartzstein

Teaching Note for HBS No. 918-041. View Details

Keywords: UAE; Wellbeing; Wellness; Government Initiatives; Happiness; Welfare; Governance; Motivation and Incentives; United Arab Emirates

2019
Article

Preferences for Experienced Versus Remembered Happiness

By: Cassie Mogilner and Michael I. Norton

Consider two types of happiness: one experienced on a moment-to-moment basis, the other a reflective evaluation where people feel happy looking back. Though researchers have measured and argued the merits of each, we inquired into which happiness people say they want.... View Details

Keywords: Well-being; Life Satisfaction; Experience; Retrospective; Time; Happiness; Satisfaction; Welfare; Perception

August 8, 2017
Article

Buying Time Promotes Happiness

By: A.V. Whillans, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Paul Smeets, Rene Bekkers and Michael I. Norton

Around the world, increases in wealth have produced an unintended consequence: a rising sense of time scarcity. We provide evidence that using money to buy time can provide a buffer against this time famine, thereby promoting happiness. Using large, diverse samples... View Details

Keywords: Time; Money Funds; Well-being; Money; Happiness; Satisfaction

02 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Spending on Happiness

Can money buy you happiness? Yes—so long as you spend the money on someone else. According to new research, giving other people even as little as $5 can lead to increased well-being for the giver. That's the insight into the secret of View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

15 Sep 2020
Cold Call Podcast

Is Happiness at Work Really Attainable?

Keywords: Re: Francesca Gino; Financial Services

December 2014 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Bhutan: Governing for Happiness

By: Sophus A. Reinert, Thomas Humphrey and Benjamin Safran

Unique among the world’s countries, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan had abandoned the traditional policy goal of increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in favor of pursuing Gross National Happiness (GNH). Famously, Bhutan ranked highly on lists of the happiest... View Details

Keywords: Happiness; Economic Growth; Governance; Cost vs Benefits; Bhutan

2013
Book

Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending

By: Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton

If you think money can't buy happiness, you're not spending it right. Two rising stars in behavioral science explain how money can buy happiness—if you follow five core principles of smarter spending. Happy Money offers a tour of new research on the science of... View Details

Keywords: Happiness; Spending; Personal Finance

2002
Working Paper

Partisan Social Happiness

By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch

August 2019
Case

Simón Cohen at Henco: Sustaining 'High Performance, Happy People'

By: Francesca Gino, Jeff Steiner, Arianna Camacho and Paul Green

Simón Cohen—Founder of Henco Logistics—transformed a small Mexican logistics company into a major player within the industry. Cohen credits the firm’s focus on employee happiness as the key ingredient to its success, an approach he developed following a personal... View Details

Keywords: Work/life Balance; Growth Strategy; Corporate Culture; Motivation; Values; Authentic Leadership Development; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Motivation and Incentives; Values and Beliefs; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry

2010
Chapter

Happiness Adaptation to Income beyond 'Basic Needs'

By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch

We test for whether, once "basic needs" are satisfied, there is happiness adaptation to further gains in income using three data sets. Individual German Panel Data from 1985 to 2000, and data on the well-being of over 600,000 people in a panel of European countries... View Details

Keywords: Wealth and Poverty; Happiness; Human Needs; Income; Adaptation; Economic Growth

March 2015
Teaching Note

Bhutan: Governing for Happiness

By: Sophus A. Reinert

Keywords: Bhutan