From the great guru of the interdisciplinary field of happiness studies comes a fascinating statement: happiness, in fact, is a measurable human state. In his new handbook, he examines the keys to achieving happiness and why, on a societal level people have grown wealthier but no happier over the past 30 years.

Richard Layard is one of Britain's best-known economists and a leading world expert on unemployment and inequality. He runs Europe's leading economics research center within the London School of Economics. He worked for the British government as an economic adviser from 1997 to 2001, and in 2000 he became a member of the House of Lords. He is the author of a number of academic books.