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Research Associate , Centre for Economic Performance, The London School of Economics and Political Science
George Ward is a behavioural scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, based at Sloan School of Management's Institute for Work and Employment Research. His work aims to combine insights from economics, psychology and political science, and focuses primarily on the study of human happiness and well-being. George has published on topics including the effects of economic growth on national happiness and the role of employment and different job characteristics in shaping people's happiness. His most recent work has focused on the effects of subjective well-being (or "happiness") on people's behaviour in the political sphere, and has shown that national levels of happiness are a strong predictor of election results. On the broad topic of happiness and voting behaviour, he also authored a chapter of the 2019 World Happiness Report. He is the co-author of "The Origins of Happiness", published in 2018 by Princeton University Press. The book draws on extensive survey evidence in order to chart the various determinants of people's happiness through the life-course, from childhood into old age. In addition, it also provides a conceptual framework for how governments may use happiness data in order to incorporate a focus on well-being into the policymaking process. Prior to joining MIT Sloan, he was a member of the Centre for Economic Performance's (London School of Economics) Well-Being Programme. He holds undergraduate and masters degrees from University College London, and is currently a PhD candidate at MIT Sloan.