> Skip to content
  • Published: 30 January 2020
  • ISBN: 9780241430019
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384

Can We Be Happier?

Evidence and Ethics




A reasoned demonstration that the general happiness of our society can be dramatically improved - by the co-founder of the annual World Happiness Report

Most people now realise that economic growth, however desirable, will not solve all our problems. Instead, we need a philosophy and a science which encompasses a much fuller range of human need and experience.

This book argues that the goal for a society must be the greatest possible all round happiness, and shows how each of us can become more effective creators of happiness, both as citizens and in our own organisations.

Written with Richard Layard's characteristic clarity, it provides hard evidence that increasing happiness is the right aim, and that it can be achieved. Its language is simple, its evidence impressive, its effect inspiring.

  • Published: 30 January 2020
  • ISBN: 9780241430019
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384

Also by Richard Layard

See all

Praise for Can We Be Happier?

for people who want to understand how both the political economy and psychology influence wellbeing, it's a great primer. The few hours it took me to read it were happy ones.

Rana Foroohar, Financial Times

Layard's pose is lucid and his analysis is spot on... guaranteed to put a smile on every reader's face

Sebastian Shakespeare, Daily Mail

Can We Be Happier? is a work of passion, a culmination of decades of research. ...the book is humane'

Richard Seymour, Guardian