Abstract

Or Paradox Regained? Critics from three different disciplines have recently claimed that the Easterlin Paradox is not supported by time-series analysis. New data for both the United States and countries worldwide, however, confirm that long-term trends in growth rates of happiness and real GDP per capita are not significantly positively related. The evidence indicates that it is Paradox Regained. The principal reasons that the critics reach a different conclusion is that they misinterpret the Paradox, omit available data, overlook problems of data comparability, err in the measurement of economic growth, or, most importantly, fail to focus on long-term rather than short-term growth rates.