Stirling Management School
Division of Economics
University of Stirling
Stirling
FK9 4LA
UK
economics@stir.ac.uk
+44 (0)1786 467470
+44 (0)1786 467469
This will be a two-day workshop, held on 8-9 April 2010, at the University of Stirling. The organisers are Nick Hanley and Mirko Moro, who thank SIRE for financial support.
Participants
Speakers include
Prof. David J Maddison, University of Birmingham, UK
Prof. Heinz Welsch, University of Oldenburg, Germany
Dr. Liam Delaney, UCD Geary Institute, Ireland
Prof. Peter Martinsson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Prof. Katrin Rehdanz, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Germany
Prof. Nick Hanley, University of Stirling, UK
Registration
The workshop is open to everyone interested in the event. There are no tuition fees, but please register by sending an email to Mirko Moro before 26 March.
How to get here
For detailed information on how to get to Stirling and to the campus click here.
The workshop will take place in Cottrell Building room 2A13.
Preliminary programme
Thursday 8 April 2010
| 09:00-09:20 | Introduction |
| 09:20-11:20 | 1st round of presentations |
| 11:20-11:40 | Coffee break |
| 11:40-13:00 | 2nd round of presentations |
| 13:00-14:00 | Lunch |
| 13:20-14:40 | 3rd round of presentations |
| 14:40-15:20 | Coffee break |
| 15:20-16:40 | 4th round of presentations |
| 16:40-17:00 | Conclusion first day |
Dinner offered to presenters: to be confirmed
Friday 9, April 2010
| 10:00-11:40 | Coffee break |
| 11:40-13:00 | 5th round of presentations |
| 13:00-14:00 | Lunch |
| 13:20-14:40 | 6th round of presentations |
| 14:40-15:00 | Conclusion of the workshop |
Aim
The principal aim of this workshop is to assess the contribution of the recent economic literature that links directly self-reported measures of mental health, life satisfaction or happiness to environmental quality. What can we learn about the relationship between the environment and well-being from this literature? Can this data be used to inform cost-benefit analyses and public policies?Economists’ views seem to diverge greatly:
"The life-satisfaction approach expands economists’ toolbox in the area of non-market valuation" (Luechinger, 2009).
"[The life satisfaction approach] it is unlikely to be generally useful as an everyday cost-benefit tool […]" (Levinson, 2009).
"[…] I am “unhappy” with happiness economics […]. It is amazing to me that the best economics journals have devoted so much attention to […] rather 'silly analyses' " (Smith, 2008).
"[…] it may be possible to identify the effects on happiness of some particularly important factors.[…] But this approach seems unlikely to be feasible for causal factors which operate on a smaller scale." (Kahneman and Sugden, 2005).
The workshop will be giving special attention to:
- the promotion of an ample and informed debate on the validity of the life satisfaction approach in eliciting preferences towards the environment;
- the policy implications arising from the current literature;
- the relationship between the life-satisfaction approach and standard methods used in analysing preferences towards public goods;
- the methodological and statistical issues to limit biases in survey methodologies and parameter estimation (e.g., endogeneity, measurement errors of variables, GIS techniques for happiness research).
Expenses
Two nights' accommodation will be paid for and consideration given to a travel bursary for presenters with no travel budget.
Further information
Click here for further information. If you have any queries, please contact Mirko Moro.
Updated on
16.03.2010