Maurizio Pugno | University of Cassino and Southern Latium (original) (raw)

Papers by Maurizio Pugno

Routledge eBooks, Jul 19, 2022

MPRA Paper, May 30, 2021

The rise and decline of the Italian economy over the past 60 years form a surprisingly regular pa... more The rise and decline of the Italian economy over the past 60 years form a surprisingly regular parabola, if the main European partner economies are taken as benchmark, so that its vertex equal to 1 means that Italy completely caught-up Europe around the 1990s. This implies that, in order to repeat that experience of catching-up, Italy needs to grow at extraordinary rates, which are not on the horizon. The paper shows that the Italians' morale is even in worse conditions and explores why. The analysis firstly focuses on subjective well-being (and other subjective indices), thus finding another parabola and with more worrying features than the economic parabola. Then it explores the role of education in shaping the long-run dynamics of both the economy and subjective well-being. As a first result, the paradox of the excess supply of educated workers in Italy becomes clearer. The second result shows how poor education weakened Italians' ability to fully enjoy their income, in particular after the shocks of the 1990s. An education policy thus becomes urgent to provide both specialized skills for production and general skills for people's lives, thus definitively reinforcing the recent weak rebound in educational levels.

Routledge eBooks, Jul 19, 2022

Economic growth has extraordinarily increased the availability of market goods to satisfy people’... more Economic growth has extraordinarily increased the availability of market goods to satisfy people’s need for comfort, but at the same time it has also raised great challenges to their working, family, and personal lives. Will people learn the skill necessary to cope with these challenges and draw full enjoyment from economic growth? This book explores this question by developing the insights of Tibor Scitovsky (Budapest 1910 – Stanford 2002), and by drawing from the modern Economics of Happiness and other fields in economics, psychology, and related disciplines. The book provides, at the same time, a theory on ‘human welfare’, a discussion on how it was conceived by Scitovsky and other economists before him, an account of Economics of Happiness from this perspective, and an application to people’s experience of living in competitive market economies. The unifying concept of the book is learning as an enjoyable activity. This may enable people to develop the typical human skill, being both social and creative, of setting and pursue the goals that are adequate for their natural dispositions. However, the economic and social conditions are not always favourable to the development of such ‘human welfare’. This may explain why happiness may not improve despite the economic growth. The book is not only the first and only monograph on Scitovsky, but also an original proposal of a micro-macro framework that researchers as well as general readers can use for interpretation, policy, and understanding of their personal lives.

This book is a welcome consolidation and extension of the recent expanding debates on happiness a... more This book is a welcome consolidation and extension of the recent expanding debates on happiness and economics. Happiness and economics, as a new field for research, is now of pivotal interest particularly to welfare economists and psychologists. This Handbook provides an unprecedented forum for discussion of the economic issues relating to happiness. It reviews the more recent literature and offers the interested reader an insight into the vast scope of the field in terms of the theory, its applications and also experimental design. The Handbook also gives substantial indications as to the future direction of research in the field, with particular regard to policy applications and developing an economics of interpersonal relations which includes reciprocity and social interaction theory.

Cross-cultural advancements in positive psychology, Nov 26, 2010

ABSTRACT This chapter argues that the concept of personal autonomy helps explain the gap between ... more ABSTRACT This chapter argues that the concept of personal autonomy helps explain the gap between economic growth and people’s well-being, which lags behind in many countries, and even slightly declines in the USA. The arguments, based on a variety of specific evidence drawn from psychology, and especially self-determination theory, from economics and sociology, run as follows. First, people’s well-being has been negatively affected by the deterioration of their autonomy, which is a basic psychological need, and by the compensatory need for financial success and status. Secondly, some important factors that appear to promote economic growth in the advanced countries, and especially in the USA, also hamper the development of people’s personal autonomy. Conventional explanations of the income/well-being gap based on social comparison, rising expectations, and deteriorated social relationships can thus be integrated and strengthened.

Journal of Socio-economics, Aug 1, 2008

This paper introduces the concept of self in economics by providing a formalisation of the author... more This paper introduces the concept of self in economics by providing a formalisation of the authoritative approach in empirical psychology called Self-Determination Theory [Deci, E.L., Ryan, R.M., 2000. The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry 11, 227-268]. It shows that the self, as a psychological endowment of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, is important in individuals' ability to choose, and it changes as an unconscious consequence of their choices. If the individuals' psychological endowment is sufficiently great, then they choose more goods and activities which will satisfy their basic psychological needs, i.e. those for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, thus triggering a virtuous circle of self-development, and greater enjoyment of well-being. If the individuals are not sufficiently able, they choose less satisfying activities, thus triggering a vicious circle of self-deterioration, and reduced well-being. Shocks are important for these dynamics, especially during the first parts of their life cycle. This model can be applied to puzzling cases where material incentives and costs fail to account for expected behaviours like addiction and self-destructive behaviour, job satisfaction and responsible economic behaviour, or striving for greater affluence without experiencing greater happiness.

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 2006

Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Jan 15, 2021

Research in the Economics of Happiness has recently paid increasing attention to 'eudaimonia', wh... more Research in the Economics of Happiness has recently paid increasing attention to 'eudaimonia', which is a conception of happiness originated in ancient Greek philosophy, and in particular in Aristotle's philosophy. Since 'eudaimonia' is a way of life rather than a circumscribed goal, its understanding requires a dynamic analytical structure. To this end, the paper provides two main contributions. First, in order to facilitate reading by the economists of Aristotle's work, this is translated in modern economic terms, i.e. eudaimonia is described as an individual activity that transforms inputs into outputs. Second, this description is reformulated, with the help of studies in psychology and anthropology, in a modern 'economic approach to eudaimonia', which focuses on human development, i.e. on the development of the skills which are typically human. A number of implications are then discussed: about how some weaknesses of Aristotle's conception of eudaimonia can be amended (e.g. the objective/subjective reconciliation); about the greater robustness of eudaimonia with respect to hedonism as two alternative pathways to happiness that people can choose; and about the advantages of the policy implications of eudaimonia.

Rivista di diritto finanziario e scienza delle finanze, 1982

Politica economica, 2000

ABSTRACT

The World Bank eBooks, 2012

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encoura... more The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

MPRA Paper, Nov 26, 2020

People gain enjoyment from exercising their agency and interacting with others in order to accomp... more People gain enjoyment from exercising their agency and interacting with others in order to accomplish projects and change reality, as is evident from the successful evolution of homo sapiens. Hence, time can be enjoyable in both pursuing and achieving socially valued goals. Since modern economic progress offers products in growing abundance, thus increasingly exploiting individuals' time and interaction, people are tempted to seek enjoyment in another way, i.e. in consumption itself, as homo economicus would suggest. On the basis of various evidence, the paper argues that people can choose between these two ways leading to well-being; that the homo economicus way is less effective or even perverse; and that economic progress weakens people's skill to undertake the homo sapiens way. These arguments help explain why the economy of a country, such as the USA, can grow over decades whereas its citizens become less able to enjoy their lives.

Social Science Research Network, 2009

The empirical evidence from the econometrics of self-reported job satisfaction and from organisat... more The empirical evidence from the econometrics of self-reported job satisfaction and from organisational psychology on job performance confronts economic theory with some puzzling results. Job performance is found to be positively correlated with job satisfaction, whereas effort is assumed to be a disutility in the theory. Economic incentives are not found to be the main motivations of job performance; in some cases, indeed, they are even counterproductive. Interest in the job is found to account better for job satisfaction. This paper proposes an integrated approach to these issues by (i) conducting an interdisciplinary critical survey, (ii) proposing a simple economic framework within which to explain the puzzles. The key idea behind this framework is that intrinsic motivations and self-esteem help explain both job satisfaction and job performance. The employer can thus adopt other, more friendly actions, besides using incentives and controls to enhance performance by employees.

Springer eBooks, 2019

Starting from the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s, Richard Easterlin has provided three key contribut... more Starting from the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s, Richard Easterlin has provided three key contributions to the development of Happiness Economics. These regard: the existence of the paradox that takes his name, its explanation, and the use of psychological concepts in economics, like happiness and aspirations. Each of these issues is still unresolved. Tibor Scitovsky, working in the same years on the same issues, advanced an explanation of the paradox that endogenizes what are today the most widespread explanations, i.e. those based on adaptation and relative income. Confirmation of his hypothesis can be found in psychology and in economics that now use psychological concepts, like motivations and non-cognitive skills.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Feb 1, 2008

During the most recent decades people in industrialised countries have reported both a stagnant o... more During the most recent decades people in industrialised countries have reported both a stagnant or even declining subjective well-being, as Easterlin (1974) originally observed, and deterioration in their social and family bonds, as Putnam (2000) has claimed. The paper proposes an integrated explanation of these two stylised facts by extending the analysis of the relative income explanation of the Easterlin paradox to social relationships as enjoyable ends of choice. Drawing on the evidence-based results of social psychology, the paper constructs a model whose premises are (i) that individuals produce social relationships by means of relational ability, (ii) that this ability is primarily shaped during infancy and remains largely unpredictable, and (iii) that commercial pressure on children to consume in competition with others may displace the enjoyment of social relationships. The model extends microfoundations to encompass new psychological dimensions. It is thus able to merge individuals' idiosyncratic dynamics-which may deteriorate across generations-with improving economic contextual conditions, and to indicate some new priorities in policy options.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Dec 8, 2011

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2013

Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public.

Routledge eBooks, Jul 19, 2022

MPRA Paper, May 30, 2021

The rise and decline of the Italian economy over the past 60 years form a surprisingly regular pa... more The rise and decline of the Italian economy over the past 60 years form a surprisingly regular parabola, if the main European partner economies are taken as benchmark, so that its vertex equal to 1 means that Italy completely caught-up Europe around the 1990s. This implies that, in order to repeat that experience of catching-up, Italy needs to grow at extraordinary rates, which are not on the horizon. The paper shows that the Italians' morale is even in worse conditions and explores why. The analysis firstly focuses on subjective well-being (and other subjective indices), thus finding another parabola and with more worrying features than the economic parabola. Then it explores the role of education in shaping the long-run dynamics of both the economy and subjective well-being. As a first result, the paradox of the excess supply of educated workers in Italy becomes clearer. The second result shows how poor education weakened Italians' ability to fully enjoy their income, in particular after the shocks of the 1990s. An education policy thus becomes urgent to provide both specialized skills for production and general skills for people's lives, thus definitively reinforcing the recent weak rebound in educational levels.

Routledge eBooks, Jul 19, 2022

Economic growth has extraordinarily increased the availability of market goods to satisfy people’... more Economic growth has extraordinarily increased the availability of market goods to satisfy people’s need for comfort, but at the same time it has also raised great challenges to their working, family, and personal lives. Will people learn the skill necessary to cope with these challenges and draw full enjoyment from economic growth? This book explores this question by developing the insights of Tibor Scitovsky (Budapest 1910 – Stanford 2002), and by drawing from the modern Economics of Happiness and other fields in economics, psychology, and related disciplines. The book provides, at the same time, a theory on ‘human welfare’, a discussion on how it was conceived by Scitovsky and other economists before him, an account of Economics of Happiness from this perspective, and an application to people’s experience of living in competitive market economies. The unifying concept of the book is learning as an enjoyable activity. This may enable people to develop the typical human skill, being both social and creative, of setting and pursue the goals that are adequate for their natural dispositions. However, the economic and social conditions are not always favourable to the development of such ‘human welfare’. This may explain why happiness may not improve despite the economic growth. The book is not only the first and only monograph on Scitovsky, but also an original proposal of a micro-macro framework that researchers as well as general readers can use for interpretation, policy, and understanding of their personal lives.

This book is a welcome consolidation and extension of the recent expanding debates on happiness a... more This book is a welcome consolidation and extension of the recent expanding debates on happiness and economics. Happiness and economics, as a new field for research, is now of pivotal interest particularly to welfare economists and psychologists. This Handbook provides an unprecedented forum for discussion of the economic issues relating to happiness. It reviews the more recent literature and offers the interested reader an insight into the vast scope of the field in terms of the theory, its applications and also experimental design. The Handbook also gives substantial indications as to the future direction of research in the field, with particular regard to policy applications and developing an economics of interpersonal relations which includes reciprocity and social interaction theory.

Cross-cultural advancements in positive psychology, Nov 26, 2010

ABSTRACT This chapter argues that the concept of personal autonomy helps explain the gap between ... more ABSTRACT This chapter argues that the concept of personal autonomy helps explain the gap between economic growth and people’s well-being, which lags behind in many countries, and even slightly declines in the USA. The arguments, based on a variety of specific evidence drawn from psychology, and especially self-determination theory, from economics and sociology, run as follows. First, people’s well-being has been negatively affected by the deterioration of their autonomy, which is a basic psychological need, and by the compensatory need for financial success and status. Secondly, some important factors that appear to promote economic growth in the advanced countries, and especially in the USA, also hamper the development of people’s personal autonomy. Conventional explanations of the income/well-being gap based on social comparison, rising expectations, and deteriorated social relationships can thus be integrated and strengthened.

Journal of Socio-economics, Aug 1, 2008

This paper introduces the concept of self in economics by providing a formalisation of the author... more This paper introduces the concept of self in economics by providing a formalisation of the authoritative approach in empirical psychology called Self-Determination Theory [Deci, E.L., Ryan, R.M., 2000. The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry 11, 227-268]. It shows that the self, as a psychological endowment of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, is important in individuals' ability to choose, and it changes as an unconscious consequence of their choices. If the individuals' psychological endowment is sufficiently great, then they choose more goods and activities which will satisfy their basic psychological needs, i.e. those for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, thus triggering a virtuous circle of self-development, and greater enjoyment of well-being. If the individuals are not sufficiently able, they choose less satisfying activities, thus triggering a vicious circle of self-deterioration, and reduced well-being. Shocks are important for these dynamics, especially during the first parts of their life cycle. This model can be applied to puzzling cases where material incentives and costs fail to account for expected behaviours like addiction and self-destructive behaviour, job satisfaction and responsible economic behaviour, or striving for greater affluence without experiencing greater happiness.

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 2006

Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Jan 15, 2021

Research in the Economics of Happiness has recently paid increasing attention to 'eudaimonia', wh... more Research in the Economics of Happiness has recently paid increasing attention to 'eudaimonia', which is a conception of happiness originated in ancient Greek philosophy, and in particular in Aristotle's philosophy. Since 'eudaimonia' is a way of life rather than a circumscribed goal, its understanding requires a dynamic analytical structure. To this end, the paper provides two main contributions. First, in order to facilitate reading by the economists of Aristotle's work, this is translated in modern economic terms, i.e. eudaimonia is described as an individual activity that transforms inputs into outputs. Second, this description is reformulated, with the help of studies in psychology and anthropology, in a modern 'economic approach to eudaimonia', which focuses on human development, i.e. on the development of the skills which are typically human. A number of implications are then discussed: about how some weaknesses of Aristotle's conception of eudaimonia can be amended (e.g. the objective/subjective reconciliation); about the greater robustness of eudaimonia with respect to hedonism as two alternative pathways to happiness that people can choose; and about the advantages of the policy implications of eudaimonia.

Rivista di diritto finanziario e scienza delle finanze, 1982

Politica economica, 2000

ABSTRACT

The World Bank eBooks, 2012

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encoura... more The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

MPRA Paper, Nov 26, 2020

People gain enjoyment from exercising their agency and interacting with others in order to accomp... more People gain enjoyment from exercising their agency and interacting with others in order to accomplish projects and change reality, as is evident from the successful evolution of homo sapiens. Hence, time can be enjoyable in both pursuing and achieving socially valued goals. Since modern economic progress offers products in growing abundance, thus increasingly exploiting individuals' time and interaction, people are tempted to seek enjoyment in another way, i.e. in consumption itself, as homo economicus would suggest. On the basis of various evidence, the paper argues that people can choose between these two ways leading to well-being; that the homo economicus way is less effective or even perverse; and that economic progress weakens people's skill to undertake the homo sapiens way. These arguments help explain why the economy of a country, such as the USA, can grow over decades whereas its citizens become less able to enjoy their lives.

Social Science Research Network, 2009

The empirical evidence from the econometrics of self-reported job satisfaction and from organisat... more The empirical evidence from the econometrics of self-reported job satisfaction and from organisational psychology on job performance confronts economic theory with some puzzling results. Job performance is found to be positively correlated with job satisfaction, whereas effort is assumed to be a disutility in the theory. Economic incentives are not found to be the main motivations of job performance; in some cases, indeed, they are even counterproductive. Interest in the job is found to account better for job satisfaction. This paper proposes an integrated approach to these issues by (i) conducting an interdisciplinary critical survey, (ii) proposing a simple economic framework within which to explain the puzzles. The key idea behind this framework is that intrinsic motivations and self-esteem help explain both job satisfaction and job performance. The employer can thus adopt other, more friendly actions, besides using incentives and controls to enhance performance by employees.

Springer eBooks, 2019

Starting from the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s, Richard Easterlin has provided three key contribut... more Starting from the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s, Richard Easterlin has provided three key contributions to the development of Happiness Economics. These regard: the existence of the paradox that takes his name, its explanation, and the use of psychological concepts in economics, like happiness and aspirations. Each of these issues is still unresolved. Tibor Scitovsky, working in the same years on the same issues, advanced an explanation of the paradox that endogenizes what are today the most widespread explanations, i.e. those based on adaptation and relative income. Confirmation of his hypothesis can be found in psychology and in economics that now use psychological concepts, like motivations and non-cognitive skills.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Feb 1, 2008

During the most recent decades people in industrialised countries have reported both a stagnant o... more During the most recent decades people in industrialised countries have reported both a stagnant or even declining subjective well-being, as Easterlin (1974) originally observed, and deterioration in their social and family bonds, as Putnam (2000) has claimed. The paper proposes an integrated explanation of these two stylised facts by extending the analysis of the relative income explanation of the Easterlin paradox to social relationships as enjoyable ends of choice. Drawing on the evidence-based results of social psychology, the paper constructs a model whose premises are (i) that individuals produce social relationships by means of relational ability, (ii) that this ability is primarily shaped during infancy and remains largely unpredictable, and (iii) that commercial pressure on children to consume in competition with others may displace the enjoyment of social relationships. The model extends microfoundations to encompass new psychological dimensions. It is thus able to merge individuals' idiosyncratic dynamics-which may deteriorate across generations-with improving economic contextual conditions, and to indicate some new priorities in policy options.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Dec 8, 2011

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2013

Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public.