Happiness

Bent Greve is Professor in Social Science at the University of Roskilde, Denmark. His research explores welfare states and social and labour market policy, and he has published extensively on social and labour market policy, social security, tax expenditures, public sector expenditure and financing of the welfare state. He is the author of numerous books, including Poverty: The Basics (Routledge, 2019); Welfare, Populism and Welfare Chauvinism (2019); Myths, Narratives and Welfare States: The Impact of Stories on Welfare State Development (2020); Austerity, Retrenchment and the Welfare State: Truth or Fiction? (2020); Multidimensional Inequalities: International Perspectives across Welfare States (De Gruyter, 2021); and Rethinking Welfare and the Welfare State (2022). He is also the editor of Routledge International Handbook of Poverty (Routledge, 2019), Routledge Handbook of the Welfare State (Routledge, Second Edition, 2019), and the Social Policy & Administration journal.

• 1. Introduction 2. What is happiness? 3. Can we measure happiness? 4. Happiness and different core aspects of life 5. Welfare states and happiness – any connections? 6. How to measure welfare and how this relates to happiness and well-being 7. Conclusions

The theme of ‘happiness’ is now studied in so many directions that broad-based introductions are most welcome. Greve’s book in its second edition fulfils the task admirably, by referring to philosophy, psychology, economics, and above all to sociology. In a concise and updated manner, it briefly addresses all relevant points of the topic, from the meaning of happiness to its measurement, from the sources of the relevant data to its correlated variables, from the arguments for and against the policies for happiness. Interesting are the links of happiness with pollution, living places, migration and welfare, distinguishing, in particular, among countries with different welfare regimes. Finally, it presents useful suggestions for building a comprehensive index that includes social development and its sustainability. The book can be read pleasantly even without having specific disciplinary notions.Maurizio Pugno, Professor of Economics, University of Cassino, Italy