New Scholarship on Happiness
This interdisciplinary conference will bring together leading scholars from a variety of disciplines (including economics, philosophy, psychology, and law) to present current research about happiness. Presenters will include both external scholars and Duke faculty. The specific focus of the conference will be the normative relevance of happiness and its role in shaping public policy. The conference is co-sponsored by the Kenan Institute of Ethics “Rethinking Regulation” program.
Dates: Wednesday, May 22 – Thursday, May 23
The conference will begin at noon on Wednesday May 22 and conclude at 3:45 on Thursday May 23.
Location: Duke Law School, Room 4047
View the schedule View the Paper Presenters and Session Chairs
Organizer:
Matthew Adler
Richard A. Horvitz Professor of Law, Professor of Public Policy, and Professor of Philosophy
Questions:
Contact Dawn Cronce, conference administrator, with questions or to access the conference papers.
Schedule
Wednesday, May 22
| 11:30 | Box lunches available |
| 12-1:45 | Session One Session Chair: Matt Adler Dan Haybron, What do We Want from Measures of Subjective Well-Being for Policy Jennifer Hawkins, A New Theory of Well-Being |
| 2:15-4:00 | Session Two Session Chair: Peter Ubel Dan Benjamin, Ori Heffetz, Miles Kimball, and Alex Rees-Jones, Can Marginal Rates of Substitution be Inferred from Happiness Data? Evidence from Residency Choices Matt Adler, Happiness Surveys and Public Policy: What’s the Use? |
| 4:30-5:30 | Session Three Session Chair: Jonathan Wiener George Kavetsos, TBD |
| 7:30 | Speaker's dinner, details to be announced |
Thursday, May 23
| 8:30 | Continental Breakfast |
| 9-10:45 | Session Four Session Chair: Dan Bowling William Darity, Timothy Diette, Arthur Goldsmith, and Darrick Hamilton, Traumatic Victimization during Childhood and Adult Happiness Eugenio Proto and Andrew Oswald, Well-Being Across Nations is Linked to National Differences in the Serotonin Transporter Gene |
| 11:15-1:00 | Session Five Session Chair: Jennifer Hawkins Carol Graham and Milena Nikolova, When Happy Peasants become Frustrated Achievers: Agency, Capabilities, and Subjective Well-Being David Blanchflower, TBD |
| 1:00- 2:00 | Lunch |
| 2:00-3:45 | Session Six Session Chair: Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Peter Railton, Subjective Well-Being as Information and Guidance Erik Angner, Subjective Well-Being: When, and Why, It Matters |
Paper Presenters and Session Chairs
- Matt Adler (Duke)
- Erik Angner (George Mason)
- Dan Benjamin (Cornell)
- David Blanchflower (Dartmouth)
- Dan Bowling (Duke)
- William Darity, Jr. (Duke)
- Carol Graham (Brookings/Maryland)
- Dan Haybon (Saint Louis)
- Jennifer Hawkins (Duke)
- Ori Heffetz (Cornell)
- George Kavetsos (LSE)
- Eugenio Proto (Warwick)
- Peter Railton (Michigan)
- Alex Rees-Jones (Cornell)
- Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (Duke)
- Peter Ubel (Duke)
- Jonathan Wiener (Duke)