Richard Easterlin - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Richard A. Easterlin is University Professor and Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

. Easterlin is also a former Guggenheim Fellow, and past president of the Population Association of America, and the Economic History Association

Economic History Association

Economic History Association is an organization founded in 1940, dedicated to "encourage and promote teaching, research, and publication on every phase of economic history, broadly defined"....

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Easterlin is in particular known for his 1974 article "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence" and the Easterlin paradox

Easterlin paradox

The Easterlin Paradox is a key concept in happiness economics. It is named for economist and USC Professor Richard Easterlin who discussed the factors contributing to happiness in the 1974 paper "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence." Easterlin found that within a...

which he stated there, namely that, contrary to expectation, happiness at a national level does not increase with wealth once basic needs are fulfilled.