@article{Blanchflower:269620,
      recid = {269620},
      author = {Blanchflower, David G. and Oswald, Andrew J.},
      title = {Happiness and the Human Development Index: The Paradox of  Australia},
      address = {2005-05-12},
      number = {2068-2018-1502},
      pages = {24},
      year = {2005},
      abstract = {According to the well-being measure known as the U.N.  Human Development Index, Australia now ranks 3rd in the  world and higher than all other English-speaking nations.  This paper questions that assessment. It reviews work on  the economics of happiness, considers implications for  policymakers, and explores where Australia lies in  international subjective well-being rankings. Using new  data on approximately 50,000 randomly sampled individuals  from 35 nations, the paper shows that Australians have some  of the lowest levels of job satisfaction in the world.  Moreover, among the sub-sample of English-speaking nations,  where a common language should help subjective measures to  be reliable, Australia performs poorly on a range of  happiness indicators. The paper discusses this paradox. Our  purpose is not to reject HDI methods, but rather to argue  that much remains to be understood in this area. },
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/269620},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.269620},
}