ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents Scitovsky in a new light. In the literature, in fact, he has been considered an outlier, especially because of the heavy use of psychology in his The Joyless Economy, so that his main insights have not been integrated into standard economic research. It introduces the key novelty of the book by acknowledging that people do not only search for shelter from adversity and comfort for themselves; they are also attracted by the exploration of the unknown, by the challenge of their capacities, and by the exchange of ideas with others. The book provides a novel interpretation of the economy/happiness problem. It shows how the creative pathway to well-being is an endogenous process, and that social externalities and economic constraints shape these dynamics.
