Die Anmeldung endete am 07.4.2026 um 23:59 Uhr

This course is part of the complementary studies (Komplementärstudium). The teaching and examination language is German. But all materials (including slides, literature, online sources) are in English so that English speaking students will be able to follow the course. German speaking students must be able to deal with this English material and the German teaching language will help you with that. Although “Happiness research” is interdisciplinary and empirically driven, the course has a focus on the literature from economics (and psychology). But no specific knowledge from economics or econometrics is necessary for the course.

The first part of the course is lecture-based and gives an introduction to happiness research, its use for science and policy as well as some conceptional issues. Moreover, students are shown with real world data how aggregated happiness statistics are generated and how regression analyses are conducted in a statistical software package. Several empirical examples will be given.

In the second part of the course, students have to present “Happiness Reports” in groups, which also compare nations and regions. Whereas the “World Happiness Reports” are more explicitly related to happiness and satisfaction, the OECD reports “How’s life? Measuring well-being” take a broader perspective on well-being, of which satisfaction is only one measure. Each group has to present one report in one session (+ discussion in class) with a short introduction and conclusion; but the main focus should be on the presentation of the chapters about specific topics.

The jointly graded group presentations account for 50% of the total individual grade. The remaining 50% of the total grade are based on a short essay each student has to write.

Students will get a deeper understanding of well-being around the world, “Happiness research” and important statistical methods, interpretation of empirical findings, and their critical evaluation. Students present and discuss critically scientific policy reports on “Happiness” in diverse groups of students.

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