The Happiness-Energy Paradox: Energy Use is Unrelated to Subjective Well-Being
Author(s)
Okulicz-Kozaryn, Adam
Altman, Micah
Date Issued
March 2019
Journal
Applied Research in Quality of Life
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Okulicz-Kozaryn, Adam and Micah Altman. "The Happiness-Energy Paradox: Energy Use is Unrelated to Subjective Well-Being." Applied Research in Quality of Life (March 2019)
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Earth’s per capita energy use continues to grow, despite technological advances and widespread calls for reduction in energy consumption. The negative environmental consequences are well known: resource depletion, pollution, and global warming. However many remain reluctant to cut energy consumption because of the widespread, although, implicit, belief that a nation’s well being depends on its energy consumption. This article systematically examines the evidential support for the relationship between energy use and subjective well-being at the societal level, by integrating data from multiple sources, collected at multiple levels of government, and spanning four decades. This analysis reveals, surprisingly, that the most common measure of subjective well-being, life satisfaction, is unrelated to energy use -- whether measured at the national, state or county level. The nil relationship between happiness and energy use is reminiscent of the well-known Easterlin Paradox, however the causal mechanisms responsible to each remain in question. We discuss the possible causes for the Happiness-Energy paradox and potential policy implications.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-019-09719-y
