"In Happiness and Hardship, Carol Graham and Stefano Pettinato argue that the political sustainability of market-oriented growth is determined as much by relative income levels and trends as by absolute ones, as much by opportunity and mobility over time as by current distribution patterns. They believe that subjective assessments of, and expectations for, economic progress importantly affect individual responses to economic incentives and attitudes to market policies.".

"This book provides a new conceptual framework for analyzing the relationship between subjective well-being, or happiness, and the political sustainability of market-oriented growth in countries where markets are newly emerging."--BOOK JACKET.