Stephen Wu, who holds the Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professorship in Economics, has contributed to a recently published study exploring how concepts like happiness and subjective well-being can be integrated into undergraduate economics curricula. The paper, titled “Teaching happiness (economics) in your dismal-science courses,” appeared in The Journal of Economic Education, issued by Taylor & Francis, in January. n nThe research highlights how incorporating personal life satisfaction metrics can make economic instruction more relatable and impactful for students. It offers practical examples for applying findings from well-being studies across various course levels—from introductory to advanced—and within fields such as behavioral, experimental, and public economics. n nWu collaborated with Kristen B. Cooper (Gordon College, UCLA), Ori Heffetz (Cornell University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem), John Ifcher (Santa Clara University), and Ekaterina Oparina (London School of Economics). They found that introducing topics related to happiness economics is both feasible and beneficial, demonstrating that applications of well-being research can be effectively taught at different stages of academic development and across diverse course types.
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Wu Co-Authors Article on Adding “Happiness” to Economics Courses
Stephen Wu, the Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics, is a co-author of a recently-published paper focused on ways to incorporate the study of happiness and other measures of subjective well-being into undergraduate economics courses. “Teaching happiness (economics) in your dismal-science courses” was published in The Journal of Economic Education, from Taylor & Francis, in January. n nThe paper identifies ways students’ feelings about their own lives could make economics more engaging, relevant, and meaningful, and provides examples of ways happiness research might be used in teaching economics – from introductory to advanced level courses – and in various types of courses, such as behavioral, experimental, and public economics. n nWu and his fellow researchers, Kristen B. Cooper (Gordon College, UCLA), Ori Heffetz (Cornell University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem), John Ifcher (Santa Clara University), and Ekaterina Oparina (London School of Economics), concluded that “incorporating happiness economics topics into economics courses is easy and rewarding,” and that their article illustrates how “well-being applications can be taught to students in various courses and at different stages of their degree.”