The paradox of happy peasants and miserable millionaires First in-depth study of happiness which crosses many countries and regions, including developed and developing countries Includes interviews in both Central Asia and Afghanistan which have never been published before Includes new data for Latin America which allows us to use well being surveys to measure how different health conditions affect the health and life satisfaction of people in different countries and socioeconomic cohorts. Includes new surveys of the effects of crime and corruption on well being in Latin America, demonstrating a strong role for different norms in mediating the well being costs of these phenomena. For centuries the pursuit of happiness was the preserve of either the philosopher or the voluptuary and took second place to the basic need to survive on the one hand, and the pressure to conform to social conventions and morality on the other. More recently there is a burgeoning interest in the study of happiness, in the social sciences and in the media. Can we really answer the question what makes people happy? Is it really grounded in credible methods and data? Is there consistency in the determinants of happiness across countries and cultures? Are happiness levels innate to individuals or can policy and the environment make a difference? How is happiness affected by poverty? By economic progress? Is happiness a viable objective for policy? This book is an attempt to answer these questions, based on research on the determinants of happiness in countries around the