Dipartimento di Economia Politica, Milano-Bicocca 
Capability and Sustainability Centre, St. Edmund College, Cambridge 
CFS and ESAS-CD, University of Pavia 
The Capability Network 
 
2ND WORKSHOP ON “CAPABILITIES AND HAPPINESS” –  
    MILANO-BICOCCA 16-18 JUNE 2005 
 
Call for papers 
 
Researches on the “Economics and Happiness” are increasingly taking a  
considerable place among the interests of social scientists: quality of 
life, 
the relationship between goods and well-being, relational goods, intrinsic 
m 
otivations, and the impact of basic need and relational satisfactions to  
motivation and wellness. These inquiries overlap with the “Capabilities  
Approach”, which very much directs attention to these issues. 
 
In March 2004 the CSC (Capability and Sustainability Centre, St. Edmund 
College, 
Cambridge) organized in Cambridge the 1st workshop “Capabilities and  
Happiness”, and the participants were persuaded that the connection  
capabilities-happiness can be extremely stimulating and potentially able of 
opening a very promising new field of research, an  idea shared also by the 
Capability Netrwork. This second workshop is also a by-product of the 
researches 
on happiness undertaken at the Department of Economics of Milano-Bicocca. 
The 
workshop itself is a follow up to the first International Conference on the 
Paradoxes of Happiness in Economics at Milano-Bicocca 20-23 March 2003. 
 
The Capabilities approach is unequivocally focussed on the objective 
dimensions 
of good life, and considers happiness as a good indicator of the quality of 
life 
only if accompanied with a wide capability set, which goes well together 
with 
Amartya Sen’s critique to happiness as a possibly misleading concept in 
human 
development. The Happiness approach, yet, today includes two 
methodologically 
quite different strands. On one side, we have theories of  a “subjective”  
nature which emphasize self-reported feelings, pleasure, satisfaction, 
focused  
in particular on the measurement of the corresponding variables. Examples 
of 
this subjective approach are manifold in cognitive researches of happiness. 
That 
approach also falls within the mainstream of current economic studies on 
happiness, and  has continuity with the Benthamite theory of happiness as 
utility. The other strand focuses on “objective” analyses of happiness, 
conceived of as human flourishing. In this strand scholars are interested 
in  
intrinsic motivations, civic commitment, relationship status and quality 
and 
personal growth as indicators of a happy life. This approach to happiness – 
that has supporters in economics, sociology and psychology – is fully 
consistent with the capabilities approach, and has been influenced by a  
rediscovery of Aristotle’s eudaimonic conception of happiness, as discussed 
 in the work of philosophers such as Martha Nussbaum. 
 
The principal aim of this interdisciplinary workshop is to gather together 
scholars of all the different methodological strands for a rich encounter. 
  
The Keynote Speakers include: 
 
Amartya Sen, Harvard 
Edward L. Deci, University of Rochester 
Ed Diener, University of Illinois 
Richard Easterlin, University of Southern California 
Carol Graham, Brookins Institution, Washington 
Robert Sugden, UEA, Norwich 
Richard Ryan, University of Rochester 
Carol Ryff, University of Wisconsin-Madison 
  
 
Scientific Committee: 
 
Martha Nussbaum, University of Chicago 
Amartya Sen, Harvard University 
Ed Diener, University of Illinois 
Enrica Chiappero, University of Pavia 
Flavio Comim, St. Edmund College, Cambridge 
Luigi Pasinetti, Catholic University, Milan. 
Pier Luigi Porta, University of Milano-Bicocca 
Stefano Zamagni, University of Bologna 
 
Organization Commettee: 
 
Luigino Bruni, Milano-Bicocca 
Stefano Bartolini, University of Siena 
Maurizio Pugno, University of Trent 
 
Proposals have to be sent to [log in to unmask], not after  
December, 31 2004.