Revista OEconomica

Tudor Constantin BĂLAN - Cycles of Freedom: Are Our Rights Today Permanently Secured, or Are We in a Transitional Phase? The Cases of Great Britain, the United States, and Russia

Marius-Cristian PANĂ, Adela BĂLAN - Economic Freedom and Prosperity: A Comparative Analysis of Welfare Determinants at the International Level

Ana Octavia ALBU - When Accurate Forecasts Still Produce Waste: Demand Shocks and Over-Forecasting Risk in Food Retail

Adrian-Ioan DAMOC - The Persian Pivot and the Reconfiguration of Geopolitical Realism: Iran and Venezuela in Strategic Competition among the United States, China, and Russia

Emmanuel Olusegun STOBER - Coercive Diplomacy in the Gulf and the Limits of the Strike-Forward Strategy: Toward a Middle-Power Coalition for Regional Stability

Sorin-Nicolae CURCĂ - On the Informational Entropy of Economic Shock

Florin DĂNESCU - The Banking Sector as Critical Infrastructure in the Logic of Hybrid Conflict: Post-2014 Legislative Convergence in Central and Eastern Europe and the Case of Romania

Mihai LĂCĂTUŞ - GDP as a Means, Not an End: Inequality as the Missing Variable in Fiscal Policy Design – A 60-Country Analysis of Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being

Articles on Issue Theme

Mihai LĂCĂTUŞ

Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai din Cluj-Napoca

This paper examines the relationship between GDP per capita, income inequality, and happiness, starting from the idea that economic growth remains important, but cannot fully explain social well-being. Based on a comparative analysis of 60 countries during the period 2016-2020, the study examines how GDP interacts with indicators such as human development, peace, corruption, and the Gini index. The results suggest that higher income levels are generally associated with better living conditions, but the link between wealth and happiness is neither automatic nor proportional. In particular, income inequality appears to weaken the positive effect of GDP on well-being, as economic growth does not necessarily translate into broader social benefits. The paper therefore argues that GDP should be understood as a necessary economic indicator, but not as a sufficient measure of progress. A more relevant assessment of development should also consider distribution, institutional quality, and the real capacity of growth to improve people’s lives.

ŒCONOMICA no. 1-2/2026

Keywords: GDP per capita, income inequality, well-being, happiness economics, Gini index, human development, social progress

JEL: I31, D63, O47

GDP as a Means, Not an End: Inequality as the Missing Variable in Fiscal Policy Design – A 60-Country Analysis of Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being

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