Introduction to the Handbook on Wellbeing, Happiness and the Environment

Abstract

The past decades have seen a massive expansion of the field of wellbeing, happiness and the environment, focusing initially on climate, air pollution and noise nuisance. Since then, many more topics have been covered, as documented in this volume. Often the relevant studies have used happiness data as a novel tool for non-market valuation, in addition to the established stated and revealed preference approaches. This introduction describes the evolution of the literature and describes the content of the Handbook.