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Dick Easterlin

University Professor and Professor of Economics

Contact Information
Office: KAP 318B
Phone: (213)740-6993
E-mail: easterl@usc.edu

LINKS
Personal Website
 

Education

  • M.S. , Stevens Institute of Technology, 1948
  • M.A. , University of Pennsylvania, 1949
  • Ph.D. , University of Pennsylvania, 1/1953

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests
Professor Easterlin studies changes in subjective well-being over the life cycle, applying the demographers’ technique of cohort analysis to social survey data. The aim is to clarify the role in determining well-being of circumstances such as living levels, family life, health, job conditions, and personality, and the reasons for the paradoxical relation between income and subjective well-being. At a point in time, there is a positive association between subjective well-being and size of income, but over time there is no improvement in subjective well-being as income increases.

Affiliations with Research Centers, Labs, and Other Institutions

  • USC Pop Lab,http://www.usc.edu/org/pop/intro.html

Publications

Book
  • Easterlin, R. A. (2004). The Reluctant Economist: Perspectives on Economics, Economic History, and Demography. Cambridge, UK: The Reluctant Economist: Perspectives on Economics, Economic History, and Demography/Cambridge University Press.
Book Chapter
  • Easterlin, R. A. (2006). Building a Better Theory of Well-being. (Vol. 29-64). Building a Better Theory of Well-being/Oxford University Press.
  • Easterlin, R. A. (2004). Life Satisfaction: Can We Produce It?. pp. p. 347-357. Norwell, MA: Challenges for Quality of Life in the Contemporary World/Kluwer Academic Press.
  • Easterlin, R. A. (2004). The Story of a Reluctant Economist. (Vol. NA). Cheltenham: Reflections of Eminent Economists/Edward Elgar.
Journal Article
  • Easterlin, R. A., Sirgy, M., Michalos, A. C., Ferriss, A. C., Patrick, D., Pavot, W. (2006). The Quality-of-Life (QOL) Research Movement: Past, Present, and Future. Social Indicators Research/Springer. pp. p.343-466.
  • Easterlin, R. A. (2006). Life Cycle Happiness and Its Sources: Intersection of Psychology, Economics and Demography. Journal of Economic Psychology/Elsevier. pp. p.463-482.
  • Zimmermann, A. C., Easterlin, R. A. (2006). Happily Ever After? Marriage, Divorce, and Happiness in Germany. Population and Development Review/Blackwell. pp. p.511-528.
  • Easterlin, R. A. (2005). Feeding the Illusion of Growth and Happiness: A Reply to Hagerty and Veenhoven. Social Indicators Research/Springer. pp. p. 429 - 443.
  • Easterlin, R. A. (2005). Diminishing Marginal Utility of Income? Caveat Emptor. Social Indicators Research/Springer. pp. p. 243-255.
  • Easterlin, R. A. (2005). A Puzzle for Adaptive Theory. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization/Elsevier. pp. p. 513-521.
  • Easterlin, R. A. (2004). The Economics of Happiness. Daedalus/MIT Press. pp. p. 26 - 33.

Honors and Awards

  • Distinguished Fellow, American Economic Association, 2006-  
  • National Academy Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2002-  
  • USC University Professor, 1999-  
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow, 1978-  
  • Guggenheim Fellowship, 1988-1989  
  • USC Raubenheimer Outstanding Senior Faculty Award, 1988  
  • President, Economic History Association, 1979-1980  
  • President, Population Association of America, 1978  

Service to the Profession

Editorships and Editorial Boards
  • Associate Editor, Journal of Happiness Studies, 2006-  
  • Associate Editor, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2004-2008  
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Department Info
Kaprielian Hall 300
(213) 740-8335
FAX: (213) 740-8543