Richard Easterlin

Richard Ainley Easterlin (* 1926 in New Jersey ) is an American economist and university professor . He gained particular fame through the Easterlin paradox, named after him, about the connection between income and happiness .

Career, research and teaching

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

Easterlin's work focuses on research into happiness and quality of life , demography and economic history . In particular, he deals with the relationship between happiness and economic growth and the transition from socialist to market economy systems. He also researches the baby boomer cohort and the relationship between changes in mortality and birth rates in the course of technological progress.

Eastlerin formulated the Easterlin paradox in 1974 in his article “Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot?”. In researching surveys conducted in different countries between the end of World War II and 1970, Easterlin observed a weaker correlation between subjective happiness and income within countries than in comparisons between different countries. It was found that, in the long term, life satisfaction does not grow despite a country's increasing incomes. He concluded that relative incomes reflect subjective satisfaction better than absolute incomes. As a result, his results and statements were discussed controversially.

Easterlin was also involved in a number of scientific organizations. In 1978 he was accepted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and served as president of the Population Association of America, and 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 .

Easterlin received various awards for his work. The Institute for the Future of Work awarded him the IZA Prize in Labor Economics in 2009 . In 1978 he became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , 1983 the Econometric Society and 2002 the National Academy of Sciences . In 1993 he was awarded the Irene B. Taeuber Prize of the Population Association of America.

literature

• Mark Blaug (Ed.): Who's who in economics. 3rd edition, Elgar, Cheltenham [u. a.] 1999, ISBN 1-85898-886-1 , pp. 329-330

Web links

• Richard Easterlin at the University of Southern California
• Literature by and about Richard Easterlin in the catalog of the German National Library