Behavioral economics

the long version

This comment was written for a special issue of the Journal of Public Economics which contains papers written for a conference. The papers cover a range of topics and approaches in behavioral economics, including issues of individual behavior, of the measurement of the consequences of individual behavior, and of incorporating these pictures of individual behavior into normative analysis. The comment touches on three topics in behavioral analyses: (1) the roles of equilibrium and context/situation; (2) issues in doing normative evaluations; and (3) happiness studies. Keywords: Behavioral economics, Happiness, Changing preferences. JEL Classifications: A12, D6, H, B5.