The fiscal crisis of many governments amongst advanced nations over the last two to three decades has led to the decline of the welfare state and simultaneously an increase in income gaps between different groups, as well as in anxiety and unhappiness generally shared amongst people. It has become an urgent issue in Japan, too, for researchers in the social sciences to investigate the causes of the problems and propose policies so that the national economy would regain its competitiveness where people would live feeling more secure and happier. Whilst there are numerous academic approaches to this issue, we aim to address it with the use of surveys to identify the correlations between exogenous factors that affect lives of people such as the system of social security, education, employment, family and friends, the existence of social capital and the degree of happiness and well-being as perceived by them. The primary methodology, thus, is similar to the one described by Easterlin (2002) and Hills and Argyle (2002), but we acknowledge and welcome other approaches from diverse disciplines such as sociology. With this overall goal, the study has four specific areas of concern for cross-national research:

1. Influence of social security on happiness.
2. Effects of work-life balance and employment system on happiness.
3. Effects of education system and economic inequality on happiness.
4. Influence of culture and creativity on happiness.

Keynote speakers: Andrew Clark, Bruno Frey, Toshiaki Tachibanaki

Programme

Inscription obligatoire auprès de Ken Daimaru / Kae Amo : ffj(at)ehess.fr