ECONOMY OF HAPPINESS - THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL ASPECTS : Final paper

Predmet ovog završnog rada je ekonomija sreće, relativno nov pojam u ekonomiji kojem se u posljednjih nekoliko godina pridaje veliki značaj. Sreća je još od davnina bila predmet istraživanja prvenstveno psihologije, no u posljednje vrijeme sve više se pitanjem sreće bavi i ekonomija. Ekonomija sreće je novo ekonomsko područje koje u odnos stavlja materijalno blagostanje građana neke zemlje i subjektivni doživljaj vlastitog života. Upravo taj subjektivni doživljaj vlastitog života odnosi se na sreću općenito, a ekonomisti upravo žele prikazati kako na sreću u globalu djeluju i subjektivni, ali i objektivni aspekti blagostanja. U posljednjih nekoliko godina sve više se analiziraju različite mjere blagostanja pojedinca. Razlog tomu je što bruto domaći proizvod (BDP) više nije smatran najpouzdanijom mjerom za određivanje sreće i blagostanja ljudi. Naime, postoji niz drugih aspekata, osim ekonomskog, koje pozitivno utječu na povećanje blagostanja i sreće ljudi. Temeljni je cilj ovog završnog rada objasniti što sve utječe na blagostanje i kvalitetu života građana neke zemlje, a kako bi se taj cilj mogao ostvariti, bit će analizirani različiti aspekti objektivnog i subjektivnog blagostanja. U konačnici, svrha ovog rada je izvesti zaključak o tome što sve, u globalu, utječe na sreću građana neke zemlje, odnosno koji su to aspekti koji na istu utječu. Također je cilj ovog rada istražiti je su li Hrvati sretan narod i na čemu bi trebali poraditi kako bi poboljšali svoju situaciju po pitanju sreće.The subject of this final paper is the economics of happiness, a relatively new concept in economics which has been given considerable importance in the last few years. Happiness has primarily been the subject of research in psychology for a long time, but recently the issue of happiness has been more frequently addressed in economics. The economics of happiness is a new economic field that puts in relation the material well-being of the citizens of a country and the subjective experience of one's own life. It is this subjective experience of one's own life that relates to happiness in general, and economists want to show how happiness is in general affected by both subjective and objective aspects of well-being. In the last few years, various measures of individual well-being have been increasingly analyzed. The reason is that gross domestic product (GDP) is no longer considered the most reliable measure for determining people's happiness and well-being. As a matter of fact, there are a number of other aspects, apart from the economic ones, which have a positive effect on increasing the well-being and happiness of people. The main goal of this final paper is to explain everything that affects the well-being and quality of citizens' life, and in order to achieve this goal, various aspects of objective and subjective well-being will be analyzed. In the end, the purpose of this paper is to draw a conclusion about the effects on the happiness of the citizens of a country in general, that is, about the aspects that affect it. The aim of this paper is also to investigate whether Croats are happy people and what they should work on to improve their situation when it comes to happiness