The Economics of Subjective Well-Being: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

In this article we analyze the economics of subjective well-being through a bibliometric lens. To do so we created a broad dataset of bibliographic data by using the search terms “subjective well-being”, “happiness”, “life satisfaction” and “positive affect” on the Web of Science webpage and limiting the articles to those published in the research area of business economics. By combining quantitative and qualitative methods, we were able to trace and review the development of subjective well-being research in the field of economics, as well as distinguish the most important articles, authors, journals, organizations and countries in the field. We found a big leap in subjective well-being research after the global financial crisis in 2008, as more and more scholars started to question the approach to well-being of standard economic theory. The still relatively young scientific field keeps expanding and maturing by providing answers to new, as well as old research questions.