Does living on a Greek island make you happy? Islands, islanders and the geography of happiness and wellbeing

This presentation revisits the literature on the economics and spatial economics of happiness with a particular focus on geographical and environmental features pertaining to islands and related characteristics and concepts such as insularity and islandness.

It has long been argued that islands are special cases for sustainable economic and social development. The presentation will highlight ongoing work and statistical analysis of suitable secondary data in Europe, with a focus on Greece, including most of the variables that are thought to be associated with subjective well-being measures and examines whether and the extent to which islandness, insularity and living on an island may have a statistically significant impact on happiness when compared to mainland areas.

Meet our speaker and chair

Dimitris Ballas is Full Professor (Chair of Economic Geography, since September 2017) and Head of Economic Geography Department, Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen, Director of the Erasmus Mundus international master programme Islands and Sustainability (https://islandsmaster.eu) and the University of Groningen Research Master in Spatial Sciences. He has a first degree in Economics (1996, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece), a Master of Arts (with distinction) in Geographical Information Systems (1997, University of Leeds, UK) and a PhD in Geography (2001, University of Leeds, UK). He has also previously worked as Associate Professor at the University of the Aegean, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield and has also held Visiting Research Scholar positions at the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Austria) and a Visiting Professor position at Ritsumeikan University (Japan).

Professor Vassilis Monastiriotis is Director of the LSE Centre for Research on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus - Hellenic Observatory, Professor in Political Economy and Eleftherios Venizelos Chair of Contemporary Greek Studies at the European Institute, LSE.

The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE) is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.

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LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.