Happiness economics: Discovering future research trends through a systematic literature review

Abstract

Happiness Economics is an expanding field, with a growing number of studies due to the convolution in the disciplines of social sciences. The current trends in welfare economics have witnessed an increase in quantitative research approaches, reporting empirical associations between happiness and other variables. These approaches, however, have been limited only in the area of the economic sector, specifically focusing on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This paper takes a broader view of the topic, with the aim of identifying the research progress and the emerging trends in happiness economics. We provide a systematic literature review based on a bibliometric analysis, using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). Text-based cluster analysis was performed to identify the most prominent themes in the literature through cluster identification via VOSViewer and R Studio. The findings highlight five major emerging research themes, namely: (i) Paradoxes of happiness research in Economics; (ii) Happiness Economics: Bringing back Ordinalism?; (iii) Beyond GDP: Sustainability and subjective well-being; (iv) Policies to achieve welfare and happiness economy; and (v) Happiness management and organisational culture to improve productivity. Finally, on the basis of emerging themes, we propose future research propositions for each of the themes. Results demonstrate that happiness economics has a potential to address present needs and future engagements to build a better economic system and a happier society. The study provides novel and significant contributions to the existing literature by providing evidence of the past and current practices of happiness economics. Significant implications for the prospective stakeholders further improve the contribution of research.