Considering environmental impact in happiness rankings

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Emeritus Professor Yew-Kwang Ng, a leading MalaysianAustralian economist has a particular interest in welfare economics – the optimal allocation of economic resources, goods, and income to best improve the overall good of society. While many may see a country’s GDP and its per capita values as measures of its success, Ng is concerned with its citizens’ overall wellbeing, and their happiness is key to that.

Most, if not all, people want to live a happy life, so surely a measure of a country’s success as a nation is how happy its citizens are? Most international success indices rank countries according to how they perform against various measures and include happiness as a key value, but fail to include the cost, especially to others. Emeritus Professor […]

When grow healthy rhymes with grow happy

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Happiness is acknowledged as a new goal of global policies. Parents play an important role in a child’s happiness, but what skills are needed to build a happy childhood and a solid foundation for happiness in later life? A complex approach, integrating parenting, social relationships, play, nutrition, physical activity and sleep is required. And ultimately, a happy child has more […]

The effects of workplace norms on women’s work behaviour in Japan

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Professor Eriko Teramura from the Meikai University Faculty of Economics is a Japanese social scientist who specialises in human resource management and gender theory. Her current research centres around the workplace culture of Japan and the practices specific to Japanese companies that may be affecting the employment of women and their decisions to start a family. Using empirical analysis, Professor […]