Curiously, economists, whose discipline has much to do with human well-being, have shied away from factoring the study of happiness into their work. Happiness, they might say, is an "unscientific" concept. This book aims to establish empirically the link between happiness and economics - and between happiness and democracy. Two respected economists, Bruno Frey and Alois Stutzer, integrate insights and findings from psychology, where attempts to measure quality of life are well-documented, as well as from sociology and political science. They demonstrate how micro- and macro-economic conditions in the form of income, unemployment, and inflation affect happiness.

奇怪的是，经济学家的学科与人类福祉有很大关系，却回避将幸福研究纳入他们的工作。他们可能会说，幸福是一个“不科学”的概念。这本书的目的是从经验上建立幸福与经济之间的联系，以及幸福与民主之间的联系。布鲁诺·弗雷（Bruno Frey）和阿洛伊斯·斯图泽（Alois Stutzer）是两位受人尊敬的经济学家，他们综合了心理学以及社会学和政治学的见解和发现。在心理学中，衡量生活质量的各种尝试都得到了充分的证明。它们展示了收入、失业和通货膨胀等微观和宏观经济条件如何影响幸福感。