Document Type   Publication Date    welfarism, empirical
research, utilitarianism, cost-benefit analysis, subjective
well-being   A growing body of research on happiness or
subjective well-being (SWB) shows, among other things, that
people adapt to many injuries more rapidly than is commonly
thought, fail to predict the degree of adaptation and hence
overestimate the impact of those injuries on their SWB, and,
similarly, enjoy small or moderate rather than significant
changes in SWBg in response to significant changes in income.
Some researchers believe that these findings pose a challenge to
cost-benefit analysis, and argue that project evaluation
decision-procedures based on economic premises should be
replaced with procedures that directly maximize subjective well-
being. This view turns out to be wrong or, at best, premature.
Cost-benefit analysis remains a viable decision procedure.
However, some of the findings in the happiness literature can be
used to generate valuations for cost-benefit analysis where