Why has happiness stopped increasing in rich countries?

October 7, 2016. While household income continues to grow in developed countries, mean happiness often stalls. Let's try to solve that paradox. In the 1970s, the American economist Richard Easterlinmade a stunning observation, known eversince as the 'Easterlin Paradox'. On the one side, look at self-declared happiness by individuals from one single country or mean happiness across countries and you will conclude without any doubt that the richer you are, the more satisfied you are with your life. That golden rule is also supported by the strong correlation between growth evolutions and life satisfaction changes at national levels: life satisfaction increases when growth accelerates [...]