The Canadian Happiness Economics Research Network

The Canadian Happiness Economics Research Network (CHERN) is a study group of the Canadian Economics Association.

Our mission is to

bring together researchers, including emerging scholars, who are working on the economics of happiness and wellbeing, and
ensure a sufficient profile of this field within the Canadian economics research community, so that prospective contributors will find the field, and
to organize sessions and talks at the annual Canadian Economics Association conference.

In addition to a number of dedicated and joint sessions at the annual CEA meetings since 2023, we are running an interdisciplinary seminar series on wellbeing research, co-hosted by McGill University and the University of Toronto, described below. We also host a mailing list (google group) for interested researchers, and have formal membership, at no cost, for CEA members. You can contact Chris Barrington-Leigh to sign up or join.

Subscribe to our list to stay connected.

Officers 2025

President: Dr. Chris Barrington-Leigh (McGill University)
Secretary: Anthony McCanny (University of Toronto)
Conference Co-Chair: Dr. Leonard Goff (University of Calgary)
Conference Co-Chair: Damilola Afolabi (University of Regina)

CHERN Best Paper Award

The Canadian Happiness Economics Research Network (CHERN) invites submissions for our 2025 CHERN Best Paper Award. We invite submissions from current and graduating PhD students with an interest in the economics of happiness and well-being. To apply, please send a full paper draft to leonard.goff@ucalgary.ca by June 15th, 2025. We expect to distribute up to $1000 CAD. Candidates who submit their paper for presentation at the 2025 Canadian Economics Association meeting under the CHERN subject areas will be given first consideration for the Best Paper Award. Submissions for the 2025 CEA meeting are due by 14 February, 2025 at economics.ca/conference-submissions.

McGill-UofT Wellbeing Research Seminar

The McGill-UofT Wellbeing Research Seminar Series is co-organized by Dr. Felix Cheung (University of Toronto) and Sofia Panasiuk (University of Toronto), Anthony McCanny (University of Toronto), and Dr. Chris Barrington-Leigh (McGill University). The seminar series is open to all and will be held online via Zoom. Registration is required in advance, but is free. Scroll to the right for videos of past seminars.

Upcoming Talks

Registration for this series / any talk is required in advanced, but is free:
To sign up, please fill out the form on U of T's page.

Schedule 2024-2025

Social Media and Wellbeing miniseries

Date/Time	Speaker	Title
January 14 (12 pm ET)	Professor David G Blanchflower	The Declining Wellbeing of the Young
February 11 (12 pm ET)	Professor Michaeline Jensen	Youth Mental Health in a Digital Age: What Do We Know?
March 11 (12 pm ET)	Dr. Michaeline Jensen, Dr. Alexey Makarin and Dr. Amanda Fergususon	Panel Discussion: Social Media and Wellbeing

Schedule history: 2024-2025

Easterlin Paradox miniseries

Date/Time	Speaker	Title
October 8th (12 pm ET)	Kelsey O’Connor	Evidence for the Easterlin Paradox
November 12th (12 pm ET)	Claudia Senik	Is it possible to raise national happiness?
December 3rd (12 pm ET)	Kelsey O’Connor, Claudia Senik, Francesco Sarracino, and Alberto Prati	Panel Discussion: The Easterlin Paradox

Schedule history: 2023-2024

Date/Time	Speaker	Title
December 4th (12 pm ET)	Ruut Veenhoven	Reflections
January 8th (12 pm ET)	Carol Graham	Twin Crises of Despair and Misinformation
February 5th (12 pm ET)	Louis Tay	Assessing well-being in societies
March 4th (12 pm ET)	Matthew Killingsworth	Happiness in High Resolution
April 15th (12 pm ET)	John Helliwell	Happiness at Different Ages
May 6th (12 pm ET)	Shige Oishi	Culture and well-being: Conceptual and measurement issues

If you use Google Calendar, you can subscribe to the seminar series calendar here. You can also subscribe in iCal format.

For further information, questions, and media inquiries please contact Dr. Felix Cheung and Dr. Chris Barrington-Leigh at happiness@utoronto.ca.

The McGill-UofT Wellbeing Research Seminar is an initiative of the Canadian Happiness Economics Research Network (CHERN), a working group of the Canadian Economics Association