Kelsey J. O'Connor

Research

My interest is in determining methods (both private and public) to improve societal well-being. For that we need subjective well-being, or happiness, data. Subjective well-being measures are appropriate because they reflect individuals’ evaluations of their life, thus allowing them to weigh both economic and non-economic factors in whatever way they choose.

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." - from the Constitution of the World Health Organization

Short open access book published March 2025

Abstract: There is now a Happiness Revolution to go along with the earlier Industrial and Demographic Revolutions. The Happiness Revolution is captured using people's happiness scores, as reported in public surveys, whereas the earlier revolutions are reflected by economic production (such as GDP) and life expectancy. Increases in happiness are chiefly due to social-science welfare policies that alleviate people's foremost concerns – those centering on family life, health, and jobs. This Element traces the course of the Happiness Revolution throughout Europe since the 1980s when comprehensive and comparable data on people's happiness first become available. Which countries lead and which lag? How is happiness distributed – are the rich happier than the poor, men than women, old than young, native than foreign born, city than countryfolk? How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted happiness? These are among the questions addressed in this Element.

Introductory Presentation

World Happiness Report 2025

Supporting others: How prosocial behaviour reduces deaths of despair. 2025. Coauthored with Chiara Peroni, Francesco Sarracino, Giulia Slater, and Fengyu Wu. Luxembourg oriented News Release. Media coverage: Business Insider, The Telegraph, Fortune, RTL, Luxembourg Times, China Daily, TRT Global (Africa).

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Governments should prioritize well-being over economic growth. 2025. Nature Human Behaviour, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02277-4. News release available here. Highlighted by Research Luxembourg as one of ten research results in July.

Long-run determinants of life satisfaction

Explaining Happiness Trends in Europe. 2022. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (37), e2210639119. Coauthored with Richard Easterlin. Media coverage: The Times, Cogco.
The Easterlin Paradox. 2022. Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Edited by Klaus F. Zimmermann. Switzerland: Springer Nature. Coauthored with Richard Easterlin.

Free working paper version. Media mentions: The Guardian (Aug 14 22) and The Guardian (Oct 12 22). Local media coverage: RTL (English), Paperjam (French), HR One (French). News release available here. Presentation recording from the McGill - UofT Wellbeing Research Seminar Series (2024).

Economic growth and well-being beyond the Easterlin paradox. 2021. In A Modern Guide to the Economics of Happiness, edited by Luigino Bruni, Alessandra Smerilli, and Dalila De Rosa, Edward Elgar, 162–188, Chapter 9. Coauthored with Francesco Sarracino.

Media coverage: RTL (English), Wort (French), and Infogreen (French). News release available here. Free working paper version.

The effect of immigration on natives’ well-being in the European Union. 2020. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 180, 257-274.

Consequences of Satisfaction, Optimism, and Trust

Employee dissatisfaction and intentions to quit: New evidence and policy recommendations. 2025. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Coauthored with Giulia Slater and Cesare Riillo.

Local media coverage: L'essentiel (French); Luxemburger Wort (German); and Paperjam (French). Free working paper version. News release.

Related talk at the Luxembourg House of Sustainability event, "Focus on the “S” in ESG: how to cultivate employee engagement and well-being?"

Trust predicts compliance with COVID-19 containment policies: Evidence from ten countries using big data. 2024. Economics and Human Biology, 54 (2024) 101412 . Coauthored with Francesco Sarracino, Talita Greyling, Chiara Peroni, and Stephanie Rossouw.
Life satisfaction and noncognitive skills: effects on the likelihood of unemployment. 2020. Kyklos. 73(4), 568– 604.
Longer, More Optimistic, Lives: Historic Optimism and Life Expectancy in the United States. 2019. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 168, 374-392. Coauthored with Carol Graham.

Description of the paper as part of a broader "deaths of despair" research agenda. Additional background and summary is available here through the HCEO Working Group associated with the University of Chicago.

Financial Times article highlighting this research as part of a broader agenda that demonstrates the value of measuring feelings, in part because they predict important outcomes such as elections, employment, and health. As part of this agenda, I predict unemployment in the 2020 Kyklos article above using life satisfaction, and compliance with containment policies using trust in the coauthored working paper listed below.

2023 Atlantic article on Why Economists Should Study Hope.

Happiness and welfare state programs

Are economic growth and well-being compatible: Welfare reform and life satisfaction in Japan. 2021. Oxford Economic Papers. Coauthored with Hiroshi Ono and Francesco Sarracino.

Free working paper version. Short opinion piece published in Nikkei Asia, "New research reveals the myth of Japan's 'lost decades"

Labor market policy and subjective well-being during the Great Recession. 2021. Journal of Happiness Studies. Coauthored with Robson Morgan. Free working paper version.
Happiness and Welfare State Policy Around the World. 2017. Review of Behavioral Economics, 4(4), 397-420.

Well-being in crisis periods

Three years of COVID-19 and life satisfaction in Europe: A macro view. 2023. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120 (19), e2300717120. Coauthored with Richard Easterlin. Media coverage: News-Medical.net
A year of pandemic: levels, changes and validity of well-being data from Twitter. Evidence from ten countries. 2023. PLoS ONE, 18(2): e0275028. Coauthored with Francesco Sarracino, Talita Greyling, Chiara Peroni, and Stephanie Rossouw.

Presentation recording from the 2021 annual conference of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS).

Neo-humanism and COVID-19: Opportunities for a socially and environmentally sustainable world. 2022. Applied Research in Quality of Life Studies. Coauthored with Francesco Sarracino. Received the Best Paper Award.
One in three Luxembourg residents report their mental health declined during the COVID-19 crisis. 2020. International Journal of Community Well-Being. Coauthored with Chiara Peroni.

Media coverage of previous version STATEC Regards: Luxembourg Times (English), RTL (English), Wort (French), Paperjam (French), Yahoo Actualities (French), Le Quotidien (French), and Luxembourg Journal (German).

Who Suffered Most From the Great Recession? Happiness in the United States. 2017. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 3(3), 72–99.

Life satisfaction over the life cycle

Experienced Life Cycle Satisfaction in Europe. 2017. Review of Behavioral Economics, 4(4), 371-396. Coauthored with Robson Morgan.
Does the U-shape Pattern in Life Cycle Satisfaction Obscure Reality? A Response to Blanchflower. 2020. Review of Behavioral Economics: 7(2), 201-206. Coauthored with Robson Morgan.

Other subjective well-being research

Effects of teaching practices on life satisfaction and test scores: evidence from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). 2025. Kyklos. https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12441.

Free working paper version. Presentation at the Oxford Wellbeing Research and Policy Conference 2022.

A measure of well-being efficiency based on the World Happiness Report. 2022. International Productivity Monitor, 43, pp. 10-40. Coauthored with Francesco Sarracino.

Political resource curse

Does Oil Really Curse Democracy? A Long-Run Time-Series Analysis of 127 Countries. 2018. Resources Policy, 57, 264-277. First author with Luisa R. Blanco and Jeffrey B. Nugent.
Oil Curse and Institutional Changes: Which Institutions Are Most Vulnerable to the Curse and Under What Circumstances? 2015. Contemporary Economic Policy, 33(2), 229-403. Coauthored with Luisa R. Blanco and Jeffrey B. Nugent.

Released Working Papers

The Well-being Costs of Immigration in Europe. 2025. IZA Discussion Paper, No. 17516.

Research

World Happiness Report 2025

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Released Working Papers

Other Articles and Chapters