О парадоксу прогреса
On the paradox of progress

Author(s): Vladimir S. Mentus
Subject(s): Economy, Sociology, Social development, Economic development, Socio-Economic Research
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: Economic growth; Subjective well-being; Political economy; progress
Summary/Abstract: The book discusses the so-called the paradox of progress (often called the Easterlin paradox in the literature), that is, the thesis about the long-term disconnection of economic growth from the so-called subjective well-being. The author answers the question whether further economic growth of developed countries is a necessary and/or sufficient condition for increasing the level of subjective well-being of their populations. For several decades, there has been considerable debate among authors about the nature of the long-term relationship between economic well-being within a given society or group of societies and the social well-being of their populations. Viewed from a utilitarian perspective, given the importance that has long been attributed to economic growth, it seems very important to examine its purpose in terms of the growth of social well-being, understood here as the level of subjective well-being within populations. Social well-being, measured by subjective indicators, can perhaps be considered a key aspect of the quality of societies, an idea with a very long tradition. In order for the further economic growth of developed countries to be considered justified, it is therefore necessary to show that further growth is a necessary condition for increasing the level of subjective well-being of the population.

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