决策效用、体验效用与幸福，《经济研究》，2014年第7期,p176-188。
决策效用、体验效用与幸福
内容提要：幸福的概念无论从理论范畴还是从实际应用方面均需得到进一步明晰。为此，本文基于效用论的历史演变和最新进展，探讨了幸福的内涵、性质与决定因素。研究发现，效用内涵可被区分为决策效用与体验效用两个方面，其中前者对应于新古典经济学强调的效用的欲求含义，而后者为古典经济学偏重的效用的快乐含义。据此我们进一步提出，幸福应是体验效用的一个子集，它指个体从实际结果与可接受结果的差异中获取的满足感。这一定义意味着幸福更受结果的相对变化的影响，而对结果的绝对水平不敏感，这可作为构造幸福函数的基本原则，从而避免在选取幸福的解释变量时出现泛化倾向。其政策启示是，当政府将提升居民幸福纳入施政目标时，政策设计的依据不应局限于各种效果指标的绝对值，还应重视这些指标的相对变化，否则将会导致居民的“被幸福”。
关键词：决策效用 体验效用 满足感 幸福函数
Decision Utility, Experienced Utility, and Happiness
Abstract: The concept of happiness should be clarified both from the theoretical level and the application level. This paper discusses the definition, characteristics and determinants of happiness based on the history and development of utility theory. We find that the connotation of utility can be classified as decision utility and experienced utility. Decision utility reflects the meaning of desire of the new classical utility, while experienced utility reflects the meaning of pleasure of the classical utility. We argue that happiness can be seen as a subset of experienced utility and can be defined as the satisfaction induced by the contrast between actual outcome and expected outcome. This definition means that happiness may be determined by the relative changes of outcome rather than the absolute level of outcome. This can be seen as the basic feature of happiness function which can help us choosing the explanatory variables more appropriately. The policy implication is that if government wants to improve the total happiness of people, the policy design should focus on relative variables rather than absolute variables, otherwise people may be assumed to be happy.
Key Words: Decision Utility; Experienced Utility; Satisfaction; Happiness Function
JEL Classification：I31, D03, B20
附件
决策效用_体验效用与幸福.pdf
