WHAT DOES THE ECONOMY HAVE TO DO WITH HAPPINESS?

In collaboration with Fondazione per la Sussidiarietà

Leonardo Becchetti, professor of Political Economy, Università degli studi di Roma Tor Vergata; Renato Brunetta, President of CNEL; Flavio Felice, professor of the History of Political Doctrines, Università del Molise; Enrico Giovannini, economist and statistician, co-founder and scientific director of ASVIS; Giorgio Vittadini, president of Fondazione per la Sussidiarietà; Stefano Zamagni, professor of political economy at Università di Bologna. Introduced by Giovanni Mulazzani, professor of Administrative and Public Law, Università di Bologna

Growth, GDP, well-being indicators: do the numbers we use to measure the economy really say anything about the quality of people’s lives? For decades scholars and economists have questioned the relationship between material development and happiness, between market efficiency and a sense of community. With six voices from economics, statistics, political philosophy, and social doctrine, the meeting offers a discussion on what it really means to “be well” and on which cultural and institutional tools can help us build it. The discussion also draws on the book “Corpi intermedi, società civile ed economia sociale. Per un governo delle transizioni” (Ed. Il Mulino), edited by Renato Brunetta with Leonardo Becchetti, Flavio Felice, Enrico Giovannini and Giorgio Vittadini, which examines the role of intermediary bodies and the social economy in the governance of the major transitions currently underway.