Abstract:

Quantifying happiness and identifying the determinants of happiness are currently gaining more attention. In this research, the characteristics of social capital as happiness determinants is examined in two steps. The first step is to clarify the relationship between happiness and social capital. The next step is to compare the different kinds of social capital that contribute to the happiness in each country. This seminar presents the findings based on field survey from four European countries, namely, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland, and three Asian countries, namely, Bhutan, Indonesia, and Singapore.

About the Speaker:

Ms. Shiori Tanaka is 2nd year Masters student from Tokyo Institute of Technology under supervision by Associate Professor Koji Tokimatsu. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Applied Chemistry from Nihon University and her final year project was on solar energy. Beyond her educational background in science, she has gained interests in studying the dynamics of the whole world as a large system focusing on the human aspect. During her Masters study, she is working on quantifying “happiness” since the ultimate goal of development of all the science and technology is to make people happy. The study would also seek to quantify developments in social capital affect happiness.