THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS: WHICH INTEREST FOR PUBLIC POLICY?

This article questions the increasing use of "happiness" or "subjective well-being" in order to evaluate public policies and social conditions. After reminding the place of the economics of happiness in the history of economic thought, it presents the methodological arguments, as well as the relevant results for the policy recommendations. Finally, happiness is a useful criterion to evaluate society's state, but should not be the only one: happiness data can allow avoiding paternalism and ethnocentrism, but happiness economics face several and serious challenges that should prevent researchers from transforming satisfaction scores into the only barometer of public action.