Wellbeing
The Wellbeing research group is devoted to understanding the causes of wellbeing and its influence on individuals and communities. One key focus is on improving mental health.
CEP research on wellbeing began in 2003 when Richard Layard gave his public lectures on Happiness: Has social science a clue? His book Happiness then followed which explored the paradox that as societies get richer, they often do not become happier. His 2020 book Can We Be Happier? sets out the evidence for why and how we can create a happier society.
Research from the programme has looked into what is important for wellbeing and the influence on wellbeing of working life, education and physical and mental health, by studying wellbeing over the course of people's lives. CEP wellbeing researchers regularly contribute to the World Happiness Reports and aim to make personal happiness and wellbeing a goal of public policy.
The research provided evidence of the overwhelming importance of good mental health to individuals and society. CEP's Mental Health Policy Group published two reports (see The Depression Report: A New Deal for Depression and Anxiety Disorders and How Mental Illness Loses out in the NHS) which helped bring about the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. In its first four years, more than 1 million people had used the new services and recovery rates were in excess of 45 per cent.
The programme also produced a major analysis of all the main factors affecting people's wellbeing over their lives in The Origins of Happiness. This was aimed at policy-makers to make it easier for them to pursue wellbeing as a policy goal.
Featured Work
Wellbeing publications
Christian Krekel, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Daisy Fancourt and Richard Layard
2 November 2020
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Daisy Fancourt, Christian Krekel and Sarah Swanke
28 September 2020
Mathias Huebener, Nico A. Siegel, C. Katharina Spiess, Gert G. Wagner and Sevrin Waights
20 August 2020
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, John Helliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey D. Sachs
20 May 2020
Abel Brodeur, Andrew E. Clark, Sarah Flèche and Nattavudh Powdthavee
19 May 2020
Andrew E. Clark and Anthony Lepinteur
16 April 2020
Paul Frijters, Christian Krekel and Aydogan Ulker
13 March 2020
Richard Layard and George Ward
2 March 2020
Richard Layard
23 January 2020
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Daisy Fancourt, Christian Krekel and Richard Layard
20 January 2020
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Filip Gesiarz and Tali Sharot
27 November 2019
Walter Bossert, Andrew E. Clark, Conchita D’Ambrosio and Anthony Lepinteur
23 November 2019
Marta Barazzetta, Andrew Clark and Conchita D'Ambrosio
1 November 2019
Walter Bossert, Andrew E. Clark, Conchita D'Ambrosio and Anthony Lepinteur
29 October 2019
Andrew E. Clark, Paul Frijters, Christian Krekel and Richard Layard
25 October 2019
Clément S. Bellet, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and George Ward
18 October 2019
Paul Dolan, Georgios Kavetsos, Christian Krekel, Dimitris Mavridis, Robert Metcalfe, Claudia Senik, Stefan Szymanski and Nicolas R. Ziebarth
12 August 2019
Grace Lordan and Alistair McGuire
1 July 2019
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Christian Krekel and George Ward
1 July 2019
Grace Lordan and Alistair McGuire
20 June 2019
Abel Brodeur and Sarah Flèche
1 June 2019
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Clement Imbert, Maarten Luts, Johannes Spinnewijn and Teodora Tsankova
17 May 2019
Andrew E. Clark, Conchita D'Ambrosio, and Marta Barazzetta
29 April 2019
Marta Barazzetta, Andrew E. Clark and Conchita D'Ambrosio
22 March 2019
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Christian Krekel and George Ward
15 March 2019