Andrew Oswald,
Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science

Andrew Oswald is a Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at the University of Warwick. His research is principally in applied economics and quantitative social science. It currently includes work on the COVID-19 crisis and health economics. In more normal times Andrew Oswald also works on the empirical study of job satisfaction, human happiness, mental health, unemployment, labour productivity, and the influence of diet on psychological well-being. He serves on the board of editors of Science. Previously at Oxford and the London School of Economics, with spells as Lecturer, Princeton University (1983-4); De Walt Ankeny Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College (1989-91); Jacob Wertheim Fellow, Harvard University (2005); Visiting Fellow, Cornell University (2008); Research Director, IZA Bonn (2011-12); Visiting Fellow, University of Zurich (2016); Visiting Fellow, Yale University (2016). He is an ISI Highly-Cited Researcher.

I am a supporter of the San Francisco Declaration, recently agreed by a large group of editors and scientists, which is that "journal impact factors should not be used as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual research articles, to assess an individual scientist's contributions, or in hiring, promotion, or funding decisions." PDF here

Latest papers below



"Age-Based Policy in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic: How Common are Multi-Generational Households?."
with Thijs Van Rens, November 2020.


"It's time for cost-benefit analysis of restrictions."
Lead letter Financial Times, November 3rd 2020.


"Do Europeans Care about Climate Change? An Illustration of the Importance of Data on Human Feelings."
with Adam Nowakowski, September 2020.


"Trends in Extreme Distress in the USA, 1993-2019" (Abstract)
with David G. Blanchflower, Forthcoming in the American Journal of Public Health, September 2020.
"A Graph of Extreme Distress Through Time in the USA"

Appendix


"Employment and the Recovery Strategy: Three Policies."
July, 2020.


"Individual COVID-19 fatality risk (and the consequences for universities)"
with Nattavudh Powdthavee, 06 June 2020.


"Age, Death Risk, and the Design of an Exit Strategy: A Guide for Policymakers and for Citizens Who Want to Stay Alive"
with Nattavudh Powdthavee, April 2020.
PDF Version
Word Version

Deaths by Age in England and Wales Last Week (ONS May 5th)


"The Case for Releasing the Young from Lockdown: A Briefing Paper for Policymakers"
with Nattavudh Powdthavee, April 2020.
Letter: "Driving licence makes it possible to check a young person's age"
with Nattavudh Powdthavee, Financial Times, April 2020.


"Is There a Link Between Air Pollution and Impaired Memory? Evidence on 34,000 English Citizens"
with Nattavudh Powdthavee. To be published in Ecological Economics. October 2019


"Why does the economics of climate change matter so much, and why has the engagement of economists been so weak?"
with Nicholas Stern, Forthcoming in the Royal Economic Society Newsletter September 2019


"Rational Randomization by Journal Editors: A Mathematical Derivation."
July 2019


"The best gauge of civic wellbeing is not GDP."
Letters, Financial Times, Friday 21, June 2019


"Does Eating Fruit and Vegetables Also Reduce the Longitudinal Risk of Depression and Anxiety? A Commentary on 'Lettuce be Happy'."
with Redzo Mujcica, Forthcoming in Social Science & Medicine 2019


"Researchers obsessed with FT Journals list are failing to tackle today's problems."
Financial Times, 8th of May 2019.


"Was Brexit Triggered by the Old and Unhappy? Or by Financial Feelings?"
with Federica Liberini, Eugenio Proto and Michela Redoano,
forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization


"Advertising as a Major Source of Human Dissatisfaction: Cross-National Evidence on One Million Europeans"
with Chloe Michel, Michelle Sovinsky and Eugenio Proto, January 2019


"How Common are Bad Bosses?"
with Benjamin Artz and Amanda H Goodall, September 2018


"Is Envy Harmful to a Society's Psychological Health and Wellbeing?
A Longitudinal Study of 18,000 Adults."
with Redzo Mujcic, published in Social Science & Medicine, 2018.


"Unhappiness and Pain in Modern America: A Review Essay."
with David G. Blanchflower, forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Literature.


"How Much Should University Vice-Chancellors Be Paid?"
September 2017. Newspaper article forthcoming in the Times Higher Education.


"Do Humans Suffer a Psychological Low in Midlife? Two Approaches
(With and Without Controls) in Seven Data Sets"
August 2017 with David G. Blanchflower


"Antidepressants for Economists and Business-School Researchers: An Introduction and Review"
August 2017, with Aleksandra Katolik


"Female Suicide and the Concept of the Midlife Crisis"
May 2017, with Ahmed Tohamy


"Female Babies and Risk-Aversion: Causal Evidence from Hospital Wards",
with Ganna Pogrebna and David Haig, published in the Journal of Health Economics, 2018.


"Understanding Happiness",
University of Warwick, 2017


"If Your Boss Could Do Your Job, You're More Likely to Be Happy at Work"
Benjamin Artz , Amanda Goodall & Andrew J. Oswald. Harvard Business Review (digital article)
December 29, 2016


"Do Women Ask?"
Benjamin Artz, Amanda H. Goodall, and Andrew J. Oswald, forthcoming in Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 2018.


"Evolution of Well-being and Happiness after Increases in the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables"
(with Redzo Mujcic). Published in American Journal of Public Health, 2016.
Supplementary Figures and Tables for the AJPH paper"
"A Note on a Possible Link Between Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Reduced Risk of Depression" : Unpublished manuscript, July 2016, Redzo Mujcica and Andrew J. Oswaldb


"Antidepressants and Age: A New Form of Evidence for U-Shaped Well-being Through Life"
(with D. Blanchflower). Published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2016.


"Happiness and Productivity" with Eugenio Proto, and Daniel Sgroi, University of Warwick, UK, and IZA Bonn, Germany, March 2014. Published in the Journal of Labor Economics, 2015.

"National Well-being Policy and a Weighted Approach to Human Feelings" with Gus O'Donnell. Published in the journal Ecological Economics, 2015.

"Boss Competence and Worker Well-being"with Benjamin Artz and Amanda H Goodall. Published in Industrial and Labor Relations Review 2017
.

"Longitudinal Evidence for a Midlife Nadir in Human Well-being: Results from Four Data Sets,"
with Terence C. Cheng and Nattavudh Powdthavee. Published in Economic Journal 2017.

"Do We Need to Shake Up the Social Sciences?".

"National Happiness and Genetic Distance: A Cautious Exploration" with Eugenio Proto. Published in Economic Journal 2017.

"Does Money Make People Right-Wing and Inegalitarian? A Longitudinal Study of Lottery Winners"
with Nattavudh Powdthavee, February 2014

"Longitudinal Evidence for a Midlife Nadir in Human Well-being: Results from Four Data Sets"
with Terence C. Cheng and Nattavudh Powdthavee, February 2014

"Human Well-being and In-Work Benefits: A Randomized Controlled Trial"
with Richard Dorsett, February 2014



"The Danger of High Home Ownership: Greater Unemployment"
a recent presentation at Chatham House in London.

Non-Technical Paper

Technical Paper
Recent paper:

"How should peer-review panels behave?"
with Daniel Sgroi, Economic Journal.

Does High Home-Ownership Impair the Labor Market?
David G. Blanchflower and Andrew J. Oswald, May 2013

Things I would have found it useful to have been told when I was a young researcher:
Tuesday April 30 2013 Event on Publishing Thoughts and Advice for Young Faculty: Some Notes
Recent paper:

"Happiness as a driver of risk-avoiding behavior: Theory and an empirical study of seatbelt wearing and automobile accidents",
Robert J B Goudie, Sach Mukherjee, JanEmmanuel De Neve, Steven Wu and Andrew J. Oswald
PDF
Recent paper:

"Evidence for a midlife crisis in great apes consistent with the U-shape in human well-being",
Alexander Weiss, James E. King, Miho Inoue-Murayama, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, and Andrew J. Oswald
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2012.
PDF

The Happiness of Apes through Life
Larger JPEG (right click and 'save as' to download)

Contact

Email : andrew.oswald@warwick.ac.uk

Address : Dept of Economics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL. United Kingdom.

Press : Contact : Andrew Oswald +44 7876 217717
or Warwick U comms – Peter Dunn Phone: +44-2476-523708 Mobile: +44 7767 655860 Email: p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk

Richard Easterlin, Andrew Oswald and Andrew Clark at Warwick event.


Discussing the topic: Is Happiness the New GDP? World Government Summit, Dubai, February 2017

 
Andrew Oswald presenting a lecture on the economics of happiness in the United Arab Emirates 2016.

 
Andrew Oswald speaking on ageing at the Nobel Week Dialogue in Stockholm, December 2014.
Pictured with Johanna Wallenius (University of Stockholm), Eric Maskin (Harvard), Dan McFadden (Berkeley), David Bloom (Harvard School of Public Health), and Sarah Harper (Oxford).


Oswald happiness: The 2013 award of an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel.



Photos from the 2012 EALE conference in Bonn at which Sandra Black was a keynote speaker
and Richard Blundell received the IZA Prize

EALE conference in Bonn

EALE conference in Bonn
Scientific evidence reveals that grandchildren make people happier