Richard Easterlin

Richard Ainley Easterlin ( born 1926 in New Jersey) is an American economist and university professor. He gained particular notoriety over the Easterlin Paradox, named after him on the relationship between income and happiness.

Career, teaching and research

Easterlin studied at Stevens Institute of Technology, where in 1945 he graduated as a Master of Engineering. He then went to the University of Pennsylvania. In 1949 he received the Master of Arts titles, four years later graduated from the University as a Ph.D.. Until 1956 he worked as an assistant professor, then associate professor. In 1960 he was appointed to the University as a full professor. In 1978 he took over the William R. Kenan, Jr. Chair. In 1982 he accepted a position at the University of Southern California.

Easterlin's work focuses on the investigation of happiness and quality of life, demographics and in the area of ​​economic history. In particular, it deals with the relationship between happiness and economic growth as well as in the transition from socialist to market economies apart. In addition, he explores the cohort of baby boomers and the relationship between changes in mortality respectively in birth rates in the course of technological progress.

The Easterlin paradox formulated East activist in 1974 in his article " Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? ". In studies of properties held in several countries surveys from the period between the end of World War II and 1970, Easterlin observed a weaker correlation between subjective happiness and income within countries when comparing between different countries. It was found that long term, life satisfaction is not growing despite increasing a country's income. He concluded that relative income reflect subjective satisfaction better than absolute income. As a result, its results and statements were controversial.

Easterlin also engaged in a number of scientific organizations. In 1978, he chaired the Population Association of America serving as the president, from 1979 to 1980, he headed the Economic History Association. Since 2004 he has been Vice President of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies.

For his work Easterlin won several awards. The Institute for the Study of Labor awarded him the 2009 IZA Prize in Labor Economics. In 1978 he became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, five years later the Econometric Society. Him of Irene B. Taeuber Award of the Population Association of America was awarded in 1993.