There has been a tremendous growth in the number of empirical research on happiness by economists in the past decade. The present study is in the right direction as it explores a relatively intriguing area of research on the 'economics of happiness'. The purpose of this study is to find the existence of linkages between happiness and several economic variables. A cross-sectional econometric analysis is employed to examine the impact of the economic variables of income (Gross Domestic Product per capita), health care expenditure and pollution (proxies by CO2 emissions) on happiness across 42 countries in 2006. The findings indicate that a significantly positive relationship exists between happiness and income while pollution has a negative impact on a nation's well being. The level of health care expenditure however, does not have a significant impact on happiness. The study concludes with an examination of policy implications of the findings.

This study uses time-series analysis to investigate the long-run relationships and short-run dynamic interactions between beer consumption and the independent variables of income level (Gross Domestic Product per capita), wealth (proxied by money supply, M2) and total exports in Malaysia over the period 1961 to 2009. The study applies the multivariate cointegration methodology to establish the possible causal relations between these variables. The cointegration test and the vector error correction model demonstrate the evidence of a positive long-run relationship between beer consumption and the income level while wealth and exports have a negative impact on beer consumption in Malaysia. The long-term elasticity coefficients of the independent variables on beer consumption display relationships that are theoretically grounded. Further innovative analysis using variance decompositions lends evidence of the dominant influence of income level and exports in forecasting variance in the consumption of beer in Malaysia. The study concludes with an examination of policy implications of these findings.

This study seeks to investigate the economic antecedents of happiness by employing the Mean Group (MG), Pooled Mean Group (PMG) and the Dynamic Fixed Effects (DFE) estimators to analyse a set of macro panel data on selected OECD countries for 40 years from 1973 to 2012. The results show evidence that income and unemployment have a favourable impact on happiness, while happiness is hindered by inflation and income inequality. Surprisingly, the study revealed that institutional quality is not a significant antecedent of happiness. It is worth noting the importance of the reference group theory or relative theory of happiness and the set-point theory of happiness in explaining the role played by income, unemployment, inflation, income inequality and institutional quality in explaining human well-being.

This study examines the long-run relationships and short-run dynamic interactions between stock returns and its determinants comprising of GDP per capita, inflation and happiness, over the period 1973 to 2012. The study applies the dynamic heterogenous panel estimation techniques of Mean Group (MG), Pooled Mean Group (PMG) and the Dynamic Fixed Effects (DFE) to analyse a set of macro panel data on selected OECD countries to establish the possible causal relations between these variables. The results of this study show evidence that income has a favourable impact on the stock market, while inflation dampens stock returns. Interestingly, the study also revealed that happiness is not significant in determining stock returns in these selected countries, indicating that the market participants are rational economic beings who always act in self-interest, making optimal decisions by trading off costs and benefits weighted by statistically correct probabilities as per the tenets of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH).

The purpose of this study is to explore the long-run relationships and short-run dynamic interactions between environmental degradation (proxied by carbon dioxide, CO2 and the independent variables of consumption (proxied by income level or gross domestic product, GDP per capita) and energy use in Malaysia over the period 1971 to 2008, using time-series analysis. The multivariate cointegration methodology is applied in this study to establish the possible causal relations between the variables concerned. The cointegration test and the vector error correction model display the evidence of a positive long-run relationship between consumption and environmental degradation while energy use is negatively related to environmental degradation. The long-term elasticity coefficients of the exploratory variables on environmental degradation display relationships that are theoretically grounded. There is evidence that consumption and energy use have a dominant influence in forecasting environmental degradation variance through further innovation analysis using variance decompositions. The study concludes with an examination of policy implications of the findings.

The paper "Unemployment, economic development and happiness: a cross-sectional study" presented 6th International Borneo Business Conference (IBBC) 2014, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.