LSE CEP LSE
Centre for Economic Performance (CEP)

Wellbeing

[photo: Richard Layard] The programme director is Professor Lord Richard Layard.
Room: 32L 2.13
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 7281,
Email: r.layard@lse.ac.uk
People want to be happy. But do we know what makes us happy, or how society is best organised to promote happiness?

The Wellbeing Programme was founded in 2003 when Richard Layard gave his public lectures on "Happiness: Has social science a clue?" His book on Happiness then followed. The programme has expanded and now includes three main strands:

The Wellbeing Programme is also responsible for bringing together the members of the Mental Health Policy Group, which in June 2012 published its report How Mental Illness Loses out in the NHS, the subject of which Richard Layard discussed in his lecture "Mental Health: The New Frontier for the Welfare State".


Popular downloads from the Wellbeing programme:

Mental Health Policy Group
World Happiness Report
Mental illness accounts for nearly half of all ill health suffered by people under 65 – and it is more disabling than most chronic physical disease. Yet only a quarter of those involved are in any form of treatment...
Download full report
April 2012 saw the launch of the first World Happiness Report, commissioned for the United Nations Conference on Happiness and co-edited by Richard Layard, John Helliwell and Jeffrey Sachs.
Download Press Release for more info

See staff involved on this programme.

See writings published under this programme.

See news and press coverage related to this programme.

See Well-Being Seminar Series schedule