PBPL 911 - Happiness and Public Policy

Institution:

Trinity College

Subject:

Description:

This course will examine what makes people happy, and whether public policy should try to make people happy. We will examine distinctions between pleasure, happiness, well-being and the good life, and the emerging empirical literature on "positive psychology." We will explore the theories of economic rationality and how they are contradicted by contemporary research on hedonic prediction. We will compare the ways that liberals and free marketers have interpreted happiness research to validate their preferred public policies. We will weigh evidence on the effects of anti-depressants, stimulants and other drugs on individual and social happiness, and the public policy questions about regulating prescription and recreational drugs. We will read about alternatives to utilitarian calculations of quality-of-life or the happiness of populations as outcome measures for public policy, such as Amartya Sen's 'capabilities' approach. 1.00 units, Seminar

Credits:

1.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.Trincoll.edu

Phone Number:

(860) 297-2000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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