Abstract
Doubts about the intrinsic value of economic performance are nothing new /T.Scitovsky, J.Galbraith/. The paper starts with a criticism of "catching up" models and a "puzzle" of East Germans dissatisfaction with a rise of welfare after the Berlin wall's fall.
Author provides a sketch of the empirical research of subjective happiness since T.Scitovsky's "Joyless Economy" and R.Easterlin's paradox. The limits of rationality "more is better" have their source both in environmental, social and relational externalities and in a deep economic motivations of man /B.Frey/.
The issue from a "stead mill" of consumerism and domination of an imperial equivalence principle is seen in a conversion to social economy /economy of communion/ based on the principle of reciprocity. The "new Italien school" /S.Zamagni, L.Bruni/ with an emphasis on "relational goods" and "multi-dimensional culture" of business provides a new paradigm for economic policies.
Growth - at the end- is a by-product of search for happiness of men - nothing more.