This page documents media and blog coverage of my research as well as my presentations, interviews, new publications and working papers and any other relevant notable events from September 2015 onwards. Please also see:

• Impact for more media/press reactions to my work for specific projects (in some cases dating back to 2006).
• Publications for a full list of my working papers, published work, work in progress and non-technical summariesof my work.

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November 2018

• Interviewed by Melanie Abbott for BBC Radio 4's "You and Yours" consumer affairs programme on the topic of nudge theory. The full programme is available here.
• Media citations to my work on "Happiness & Productivity":
  • Forbes, 16th November.
  • SFGate, 9th November.
  • MSN, 8th November.
  • Entrepreneur, 8th November.
  • Khaleej Times, 8th November.
  • 24 Emirates, 8th November.
  • HR Technologist, 8th November.
  • Uncova, 8th November.
• Interviewed by my own department (!) here.

October 2018

• Media citations to my work on "Happiness & Productivity" in October:
  • EXAME, 26th October
  • Forbes, 25th October.
  • HRZone, 25th October.
  • WIRED UK, 24th October.
  • Born2Invest, 22nd October.
  • Stile.it, 22nd October.
  • Daily Mail, 20th October.
  • This is Money, 20th October.
  • Kompas.com, 18th October.
  • Business Insider, 17th October.
  • Nigeria Daily News, 17th October.
  • Pulse.ng, 17th October.
  • Uncova, 17th October.
  • Administradores, 16th October.
  • Entrepreneur Magazine, 10th October.
  • Equities.com, 6th October.

September 2018

• Media citations to my work on "Happiness & Productivity" in September:
  • Business Insider, 20th September 2018.
  • Redion Trader, 20th September 2018.
  • Forbes, 19th September 2018".
  • Entrepreneur, 19th September 2018.
  • Uncova, 19th September 2018.
  • Startups, 18th September 2018.
  • Tech Jollof, 7th September 2018.
  • Ground Report, 6th September 2018.
  • NZ Herald, 4th September 2018.
  • Business Scoop, 4th September.
  • Newstalk ZB, 4th September 2018.
  • Voxy, 4th September 2018.
  • Coach Magazine, 2nd September 2018.
  • Daily Business Group, 1st September 2018.

August 2018

• Presentations in August:
  • Happiness & Cooperation at the European Economic Association Conference, University of Cologne, Germany, 29th August 2018.
  • Measuring Happiness in the Past at the Econometric Society European Meeting, University of Cologne, Germany, 29th August 2018.
• Media citations to my work on "Happiness & Productivity" in August:
  • Developpez, 16th August 2018.
  • Fortune, 11th August 2018.
  • Yahoo, 8th August 2018.
  • Real Business, 8th August 2018.
  • Delivered, 3rd August 2018.
  • Automotive Management, 1st August 2018.

July 2018

• Presentation: What is Economics Really About? Guest Lecturer at the Warwick Summer School, 30th July 2018.
• Media citations to my work on "Happiness & Productivity" in July:
  • Morning Star, 17th July.
  • FNTalk, 17th July 2018.
  • Open Air Business, 17th July 2018.
  • Rix & Kay Solicitors LLP, 13th July.
  • Wilson County News, 12th July 2018.
  • TLNT, 10th July 2018.
  • Metro, 9th July 2018.
  • CMS Wire, 7th July 2018.
  • Delivered, 3rd July 2018.

June 2018

• Presentation: Happiness & Cooperation, Social Preference Workshop, University of Birmingham, 1st June 2018.
• Media citations to my work on "Happiness & Productivity" in June:
  • Citywire Wealth Manager, 30th June 2018.
  • TrainingZone, 6th June 2018.

May 2018

• I have been invited to become a research fellow of the leading economic research institute, the IZA Institue of Labor Economics in Bonn.
• My paper (joint with Andrew Oswald and Eugenio Proto), entitled Happiness and Productivity which was published in the Journal of Labor Economics in 2015, remains in the top 3 most read papers in the Journal of Labor Economics despite now being 3 years old (and was the most cited paper in the journal in 2015, with 442 cites on Google scholar).
• Media citations to my work on "Happiness & Productivity" in May:
  • Dental Review News, 31st May 2018.
  • Business 2 Community, 30th May 2018.
  • Metro News, 29th May 2018.
  • Incentive & Motivation, 26th May 2018.
  • Pymempresario, 19th May 2018.

March 2018

• Presentation: The Effect of Positive Mood on Cooperation in the Repeated Prisoners' Dilemma, Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2018, University of Sussex.
• The answers to last month's World Wellbeing Panel survey have been posted online. The questions concern gender and wellbeing and the panel's answers can be found here: WWP survey. Here are my responses:
  • Question 1: Do you agree that on balance, clear and distinct gender roles (whatever they are) decrease the average wellbeing of the population?
  • Response: Agree. I am not aware of a huge amount of work in this area, but recent research by Heather Brown and Jennifer Roberts at Sheffield based on data from the British Household Panel Survey may provide some relevant guidance. For example, if women earn more than their husbands but still do more housework (perhaps because of the pressure on them to also act as homemakers) their wellbeing suffers. Similarly, males who see themselves as breadwinners have lower wellbeing when their wives earn more than they do. This suggests that gender biases based on traditional roles are persistent and damaging to wellbeing, especially in the face of welcome increases in equality in the workplace.
  • Question 2: Do you agree that an active policy that discourages any particular gender role narrative is likely to increase the average wellbeing of the population?
    
  • Response: Agree. Following on from my earlier answer, while there is not an overwhelming amount of research in this area (which suggests that we need more), what there is does seem consistent with common sense: it appears that gender role stereotyping puts pressure on both males and females and policy designed to overcome this is likely to help wellbeing.

February 2018

• I have become a member of the World Wellbeing Panel: a panel of some of the biggest names in subjective wellbeing in the world. The panel is based at LSE and each month addresses questions relating to wellbeing chosen from a list provided by journalists, policy-makers and academics.
• Media: Managers: Avoid a 'Jekyll and Hyde' Relationship with Employees, Dice

January 2018

• Working paper: When Good Advice is Ignored: The Role of Envy and Stubbornness (with David Ronayne) published in the CAGE, CRETA, Warwick Economics and Nuffield College working paper series.
• Media citations:
  • Five Surprising Ways to Increase Employee Satisfaction, Capterra.
  • More Happy, More Productive, Business Lounge Journal.

December 2017

• Media citations:
  • The weekly roundup of events "on the national scene" in the Jersey Evening Post includes a discussion of my work (with Thomas Hill and Eugenio Proto) on historical happiness.
  • Was 1957 Really So Great? Shropshire Star.

November 2017

• Working paper: The Effect of Positive Mood on Cooperation in Repeated Interaction (with Eugenio Proto and Mahnaz Nazneen) published in the CAGE, Warwick Economics and IZA working paper series.
• Interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland on the topic of historical happiness.
• Media citations:
  • The Best Year of All, Glossop Chronicle.
  • Sunday Memories, Liverpool Echo.
  • Happy Year of Jiving, Juke Boxes and Teddy Boys, Nottingham Post.
  • The Best Year of All, Oldham Reporter.

September 2017

• Media citation: Why Happiness at Work is So Important, Peak Conflict Solutions.

August 2017

• Publication: On the motivations for the Dual-Use of Electronic and Traditional Cigarettes (with David Ronayne) published in Applied Economics Letters.
• Working paper: On the Motivations for the Dual-Use of Electronic and Traditional Cigarettes (with David Ronayne) published in the Oxford Economics Working Paper Series.

July 2017

• The LSE Business Review features a blog entry written by me entitled Measuring Happiness across the Ages.
• American Economic Association RCT registry entry for Understanding the Motivation of Organ Donors in the Iranian Organ Market, with Ali Kelishomi Moghaddasi. Two year field study launched this month.
• I have become an Associate Member of Nuffield College at the University of Oxford.

June 2017

• American Economic Association RCT registry entry for When Good Advice is Ignored: The Role of Adviser Remuneration, with David Ronayne.

May 2017

• Presentations:
  • Cooperation and Positive Mood in the Repeated Prisoners’ Dilemma, School of Economics, University of East Anglia.
  • Historical Analysis of National Subjective Wellbeing using Millions of Digitized Books, Wellbeing Seminar, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London School of Economics.

April 2017

• Short documentary on Youtube entitled The Science of Happiness references my work with Andrew Oswald and Eugenio Proto on happiness and productivity.
• Publication: Biased Beliefs and Imperfect Information published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (volume 136, pages 186-202, with Eugenio Proto).

March 2017

• The ESRC website features a written by me about measuring happiness entitled How happy are we? Measuring happiness through the ages.

February 2017

• Plenary speaker (talking on the topic of historical wellbeing) at the ONS (Office of National Statistics) annual RAS conference, Newport, Wales. Here are my slides.
  
• Panel member and speaker at the CAGE policy launch on Understanding Happiness at the University of Warwick. YouTube video here.
  
• Radio interviews:
  • Talk Radio Europe by Giles Brown on The Daily programme.
  • BBC Radio Wiltshire.
• Media citations to my work in measuring happiness in the past in February:
  • Britain was at its happiest in 1957, Epoch Times.
  • Ninteen Fifties Heaven, The War Cry.
• Media citation to my work on "Happiness & Productivity": Is Elon Musk the World's Best Boss? The Daily Mail.

January 2017

• Policy launch: Joint CAGE/SMF Understanding Happiness policy document released.
  • Lanch event for the Understanding Happiness policy report at the British Academy in London, some slides.
  • Press release on the Understanding Happiness policy launch.
• Radio interviews:
  • BBC Radio Five Live
  • talkRADIO.
  • Radio Scotland.
  • BBC Radio West Midlands.
  • BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire. More details on the CAGE page.
  • BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester.
• Newspaper interviews:
  • The Daily Mail, and reported as Britain's Happiest Year.
  • The Telegraph, and reported as Harold Macmillan was Right.
• Media citations to my work on measuring happiness in the past:
  • We've Never Had it so Good, The Times.
  • 1957 was the Happiest Year, Daily Express.
  • Back to the Future, The Guardian.
  • 1957 Declared as Britain's Happiest Year, Eastern Daily.
  • 1957 was the Happiest Year in the Twentieth Century, WB News.
  • Happiness in Britain Peaked in 1957, Metro.
  • 1957 Really Was the Happiest Year Ever, Scottish Daily Mail.
  • Love, Marriage...1957 Truely Was a Diamond Year, Scottish Daily Mail (print version).
  • A Word in Favour of Books, Northern Echo.
  • Warwick Research Shows 1957 was the Happiest Year in Britain, The Tab.
  • 1957 was Britain's Happiest Year in the Last Century, Red.
  • 1957 was the Happiest Year of the last Century, Nederlands Dagblad (in Dutch).
  • 1957 Happiest Year of the Twentieth Century, LocalGov.
  • Victorians were Happier than we are Today, The Week.
  •  Why 1957 was Britain's Happiest Year, Mogaz News.
  •  Britain has never been Happier than it was in 1957, YahooNews.
  • M1957 was the Happiest Year of the Twentieth Century, Report UK.
  • That Was the Year That Was, Norwich Evening News.
• Blog coverage:
  • Happiness in Britain Peaked in 1957, Ooyuz.
  • Britain Never Happier than 1957, Acken Blog.

November 2016

• Presentation: Historical Analysis of National Subjective Wellbeing using Millions of Digitized Books, Centre for Experimental Social Science, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.

October 2016

• Media citations to my work on "Happiness & Productivity" in October:
  • Work Happy, The City Magazine.
  • Google's mantra to keep employees happy and productive, The Economic Times.
• Blog coverage of my work
  • Why work culture directly impacts empoyee productivity, [Engage] The Employee Engagement Blog.
  • 7 reasons why fun in the office is the future of work, CIPHR All About People.
  • Tricks for a happier day at work, CareerBuilder.
• I have started my sabbatical and will be based at the Centre for Experimental Social Science, Nuffield College in the University of Oxford for the 2016/17 academic year.

September 2016

• The Economics Department at Warwick produced a piece summarizing my historical happiness research entitled Two centuries of data reveal that health not wealth has always been the key to wellbeing.
• Media coverage of my work on "Happiness & Productivity": Happiness myth of the swinging sixties, PressReader.com.
• Blog coverage:
  • Proven productivity boosters based on research, B2C (Business 2 Community).
  • Being happy at work improves productivity, Grid Work.

August 2016

• Presentation: Historical Analysis of Wellbeing at the European Economic Association Conference in Geneva.
• Interviewed on BBC Radio 4 (the PM programme) and on BBC Radio Wales about historical happiness levels. You can hear me talk about happiness from 51:40 to 57:20 on the PM programme (24/08/16) here or via a direct link to the mini-documentary on happiness here.
  
• Interviewed by the The Daily Mail on measuring happiness over time, reported as Forget the age of plenty, we were happier in the 1700s!
• Interviewed by John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor of the Telegraph newspaper on the topic of twentieth century hapiness in the UK, resulting in the online piece in The Telegraph How the Sexual Revolution and Money in the Pocket didn't make Britain Happy and the print version in The Daily Telegraph Not so Swinging Sixties: proof that sex and money doesn’t make us happy.
  
• Media coverage of my work on measuring happiness in the past:
  • You've never had it so good, BT.com.
  • Forget the age of plenty, Mogaznews En.
  • Happier in the era of workhouses, The Sun.
• Blog coverage of my work on "Happiness & Productivity":
  • Improve Productivity by Investing in your Employees, Aepiphanni.com
  • Recognizing Passion Means Creating Happiness, Indopositive (in Indonesian).
  • Raj at Work, Harvard Business Review Polska (in Polish).
  • Happiness Makes us More Productive...and vice versa, Life in the Balance (www.wholehealth.today)
  • Why, beyond Middle Age, People get Happier as they get Older, Dem Alter begegnen

July 2016

• Media of my work on "Happiness & Productivity":
  • Creating A Happier Workforce for Higher Productivity in Afghanistan, Daily Outlook Afghanistan.
  • How CEOs Can Help Improve Productivity by Keeping Employees Happy, Chief Executive Magazine.
  • Creating a happier workforce for higher productivity in Myanmar, The Global New Light of Myanmar.
• Blog coverage:
  • How to Nurture: 7 Key Elements of Employee Engagement, CIPHR Blog
  • Employee Productivity, Happiness and Success, HR.com.
  • Happy Employees are 12% more Productive at Work, Fastcompany.com.
  • Employee Productivity, Happiness and Success, Survale

June 2016

• Awarded the overall Teaching Excellence Award and special recognition in the Student Experience Award in the annual Senior Managment Team prize-giving in the Economics Department at Warwick.
  
• Appointed to a visiting professorship at the Centre for Experimental Social Science, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, 2016-17.
• Appointed External Examiner for Part One of the Economics Tripos at the Faculty of Economics & Politics, University of Cambridge, 2016-17.
• Media citations to my work on "Happiness & Productivity":
  • Happier Workers Could be more Productive, Shanghai Daily.
  • Unhappy Workers Produce Less, Business Day.
  • Creating a Happier Workfroce for Higher Productivity in Japan, Japan Today.
  • Training – an Employee or Corporate Benefit? Enterprise Times
  • Happier Workers Could Be More Productive, China.org.cn.
  • Happy Working Boosts Productivity, Hong Kong Commerical Daily (in Chinese).
  • Five Ways to a Happier Workforce, The Economic Times (India).
  • What Makes for Happy Employees (Without a Raise): Secrets Revealed, HR in Asia.
  • Creating Happier Workforce, The Korea Times.
  • Why Employers Should Pay Attention to the Financial Wellness of their Employees, Corporate Wellness Magazine.
• Blog coverage:
  • Happy Employees Work Harder, Sizous (in Dutch).
  • 5 Simple Steps to Skyrocket your Career, CEO Stars (in Indonesian).
  • Happiness Makes People More Productive at Work, Prevencion Integral (in Spanish).

May 2016

• An article entitled "Happiness and Productivity" summarising my work appeared in ForumEPFL.
• Media citation of my work on "Happiness & Productivity": Why Chocoholics are More Productive, The Business Desk.
• Blog coverage:
  • Greater Happiness Leads to Greater Productivity, Business 2 Community.
  • 10 Things to Keep Company Culture Cool, Calm and Cohesive, Iris.
  • Safeguarding Mobile Security while Keeping Employees Happy, dotnet.
  • Happy People are Productive People, eChangeGroup.com
  • Corporate Wellbeing, Grow Your Own Happiness.
  • Safeguarding Mobile Security while Keeping Employees Happy, cloudstanding.co.uk
• Congratulations to Mihaly Abel, one of my RAE students for winning the "outstanding contribution" prize at the Carroll Round.

April 2016

• The Journal of Dental Technology has summarised and discussed my research on happiness and productivity in an article Happy Technicians.
• Blog coverage of my work on "Happiness & Productivity":
  • How to be Happier at Work, Quality Progress.
  • Measuring the Quality of Jobs in OECD Countries, by Stefano Scarpetta, Sandrine Cazes, Andrea Garnero, VoxEU.
  • How to Kill Happiness at Work, Globoforce.

March 2016

• Presentations:
  • Historical Analysis of Wellbeing at the Royal Economic Society Conference at the University of Sussex (Brighton).
  • How Happy were your Great Grandparents? Measuring Happiness in the Past using Google Books to a group of artists and playwrights at Warwick as part of the "This is Tomorrow" programme.
• Event: Nominated and shortlisted for a University of Warwick staff award (for Economics Marketing with Jo Hart).
• Interviewed by the Charted Managment Institute (CMI) on the topic of "happiness and productivity".
• Interviewed by the University of Warwick about my teaching advice after being commended for teaching.

February 2016

• Keynote lecture: How Happy were your Great Grandparents? Measuring Happiness in the Past using Google Books at the Warwick Economics Summit.
• The Business in the Community/Mind report "Leading on Wellbeing: Transforming the Role of Line Managers" uses my research to suport a new blueprint for "unlocking employee mental wellbeing and productivity".
• Newspaper interviews:
  • How to be a better co-worker, Reader's Digest Canada.
  • Warwick event aims to learn lessons of history, Times Higher Education.
• Blog coverage:
  • 3 effective ways to boost company morale, Inc.
  • Why businesses should seriously consider offering financial education to their staff, Training Zone.

January 2016

• Appointed to the editorial advisory board of the Review of Economics and Political Science based in the University of Cairo.
• Blog coverage of my work on e-cigarettes:
  • Why e-cigarettes could be holding back your plans to quit smoking, Ethics and Health Law News.
  • Why e-cigarettes could be holding back your plans to quit smoking, Recovery Resources.
• Media citations to my work on e-cigarettes:
  • Vaping: how e-cigarettes could be holding you back from quitting smoking, The Independent.
  • How e-cigarettes could be stopping you from quitting, The Daily Mail
  • Why e-cigarettes could be holding back your plans to quit smoking, The Conversation. 65,760 reads in January, the highest of any Conversation article (more than twice the reads of the second highest).
• Non-technical research summaryof my work on "Happiness & Productivity": The Happy-Productive Worker, IPA Bulletin.
• Blog coverage of my owrk on "Happiness & Productivity": Happiness: Why it's your key to career success, Cheat Sheet.

December 2015

• New Working Paper: When Herding and Contrarianism Foster Market Efficiency: A Financial Trading Experiment with Andreas Park.
• Interviewed by Reader's Digest Canada on the topic of "happiness and productivity" (article coming out in February).
• Blog coverage of my owrk on "Happiness & Productivity":
  • Happy Workers are Productive Workers, 20 Something Finance.
  • Three BIG Scientifically Proven Ways Corporate Team Building Promotes Employee Happiness and Business Success, Terrapin Adventures.
  • 5 Ways to Stay Productive During the Holidays, Cheat Sheet.
  • The Heirarchy of Workplace Wellbeing, AXA.

November 2015

• This month I received a commendation by the University of Warwick at the Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence awards ceremony.
• Presentation: Historical Analysis of Wellbeing to "Stan's Cafe" theatre company.
• Media coverage of my work on "Happiness & Productivity": Il Denario Puo Comparae La Felicita, Insider Pro (in Italian).
• Blog coverage of my owrk on "Happiness & Productivity":
  • What Makes a Happy Employee, Workplace Focus.
  • Enfocarse en Fortalezas, Positive Pscyhology News Daily in Espaniol (in Spanish).
• Congratulations to my PhD students:
  • David Ronayne for passing his PhD viva and winning a Research Fellowship at Nuffield College (University of Oxford).
  • Thanos Athanasopoulos for getting a tenure-track Lectureship (Assistant Professorship) at Leicester Business School.

October 2015

• New Publication: Happiness and Productivity, Journal of Labor Economics 33(4): 789-822, with Oswald & Proto.
• New Working Paper: E-Cigarettes: The Extent and Impact of Dual Use, Warwick Economic Research Paper 1064, with Doyle & Ronayne.
• Presentations:
  • Happiness & Productivity, presented to a Treasury delegation at Warwick.
  • Historical Analysis of National Subjective Wellbeing, presented to the Government Economic Service at the Treasury.
  • Happiness & Productivity Policy Briefing, Social Market Foundation, London.
• Media coverage of my work:
  • Being happy at work really makes you more productive, Fortune.
  • Keeping up with the Karumes, The Economist.
  • Half of SMEs expect productivity to increase, HR Magazine (based on an interview).
  • Financial Education for Employees: The Business Benefits of Good Citizenship, HR Magazine.
  • Happy People Earn More, Genius Beauty (Womens Magazine).
• Blog coverage:
  • Financial Education for Employees? Open University Business School.
  • Enfocarse en Fortalezas, Positive Pscyhology News Daily (in Spanish).
  • Happy People Make More Money, Daily as Fresh.
  • Cleanliness is next to Happiness and Productivity, First Impressions Janitorial.
  • Happy Staff, A Pitch for Common Sense.

September 2015

• New Working Paper: Historical Analysis of National Subjective Wellbeing using Millions of Digitized Books, IZA DP 9195 and CAGE WP 236-2015, with Hills & Proto.
• Non-technical research summaries of my work:
  • Historical analysis of national subjective wellbeing using millions of digitised books: Introducing the HPS Index, Vox EU.
  • Measuring historical happiness through digitized books, IZA Newsroom.
• Media citations to my work:
  • Happy People Work Harder, Epoch Times.
  • L'indice di Felicita' e' nella Lingua, Rai News (in Italian).
  • Come Funziona l'Indice di Felicita, Rai News (in Italian).
  • Economistas intrépidos detrás de la contabilidad de largo plazo, La Nacion (in Spanish).
• Blog coverage:
  • Before 1980s Americans were as unhappy as they had been since before the civil war then something happened, American Enterprise Forum.
  • The Key to Happiness, Productivity and National Income, The Market Mogul.
• The Chartered Management Institute summarised my research in an article How being happy can make you better at your job.