Abstract

This paper develops an analytical model to calculate the amount by which individuals are expected to modify their values (the relationship between lifestyle and happiness, as measured by subjective well-being, SWB) and to adopt innovative technologies (to increase the sustainability of production and consumption, measured by the ecological footprint, EF) to allow current and future generations to achieve sustainable happiness (the pursuit of happiness that does not exploit other people, the environment, or future generations). The paper also examines the dependence of these changes on an individual's concern for future generations and on their country's current state of economic development. Individuals in developed countries can change their values by showing greater concern for future generations as well as by adopting new technologies, thereby reducing the required change in values and achieving sustainability at a high SWB. In contrast, individuals in developing countries must rely solely on technological innovation (and to a greater extent than in developed countries), and their concern for future generations is less relevant, with sustainability achieved at a low SWB. Finally, maximising the concern for future generations will make individuals in developing and developed countries coincide in terms of their potential to substitute values for technologies or vice versa, but not in terms of their potential to achieve sustainable happiness.