Some firms say they care about the well-being and "happiness" of their employees. But are such claims hype or scientific good sense? We provide evidence, for a classic piece rate setting, that happiness makes people more productive. In three different styles of experiment, randomly selected individuals are made happier. The treated individuals have approximately 12% greater productivity. A fourth experiment studies major real-world shocks ðbereavement and family illnessÞ. Lower happiness is systematically associated with lower productivity. These different forms of evidence, with complementary strengths and weaknesses, are consistent with the existence of a causal link between human well-being and human performance.
In addition to improving quality of life, higher subjective wellbeing leads to fewer health problems and higher productivity, making it a focal issue among researchers and governments. Yet no scientific investigator knows how happy humans were in previous centuries. Here we show that a method based on quantitative analysis of natural language published over the past 200 years captures reliable patterns in historical subjective wellbeing. Using sentiment analysis based on psychological valence norms, we compute a national valence index for the UK, USA, Germany, and Italy, indicating relative happiness in response to national and international wars and in comparison to historical trends in longevity and GDP. We validate our method using Eurobarometer survey data from the 1970s and demonstrate robustness using words with stable historical meanings, diverse corpora (newspapers, magazines, and books), and additional word norms. Providing a window on quantitative historical psychology, this approach informs policy and economic history.
The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP URL' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.