A podcast of the latest ODID Distinguished Speaker Lecture, given by Professor Frances Stewart,  is now available online.

The talk, Against Happiness!, gave a critical appraisal of the increasingly popular view that progress should be measured by people’s ‘happiness’ as recorded in surveys. It discussed problems of measurement of happiness, and contrasted the ‘happiness’ view with other approaches to assessing progress including Sen’s capability approach, Human Rights and a perspective based on views of justice. It argued that the happiness approach can lead to misguided and harmful policy prescriptions while acknowledging that we cannot ignore happiness altogether.

Listen to the lecture.