• This refers to the paradoxical relationship between the growth in the GDP of a country and the level of happiness enjoyed by its people.
• It is named after American economist Richard Easterlin who proposed the concept in his 1971 paper “Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence”.
• Easterlin argued that an increase in the GDP of a country did not always lead its citizens to become happier people as the marginal gain in happiness begins to decrease beyond a particular point.
• Critics, on the other hand, have contested the paradox saying that richer countries are generally happier than poorer ones.

Source:TH