Contemplating a Nation’s Happiness

For many individuals, happiness is nothing more than a state of mind. Two Illinois Institute of Technology faculty from the School of Applied Technology, however, have been studying happiness through the lens of the economy. Industrial Technology and Management Industry Professor Gurram Gopal and collaborator Enrique Garcia co-wrote the article “How a Nation’s Competitiveness Affects Its Happiness,” which appears in the January/February 2020 issue of Industrial Management, the publication of the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers.

The article looks at the World Happiness Report and the Happy Planet Index as key measures in determining whether competitiveness and productivity translate into real happiness for a nation’s citizens. The article is based, in part, on a collaborative project conducted by Gopal and Garcia in 2019.