Abstract

In general, economics focuses on the problem of how to increase the welfare of individuals. In terms of Neo-classical economics, this is achieved by consumers acting for utility maximization and producers acting for profit maximization. It is accepted that producers and consumers act rationally while trying to achieve this. In this respect, it can be briefly stated that the free market system emphasizes the assumption that it can make people happy by maximizing pleasures. However, it is thought that the only source of happiness is not dependent on this sense of pleasure, besides, the meaning and meaning dimensions of life have happiness-enhancing effects. The Easterlin Paradox and the upper layers of Maslow's hierarchy of needs provide some important clues in this regard. In this respect, this study examines the effect of the Covid-19 epidemic on the dimensions of happiness. The dimensions of happiness are pleasure (hedonic), mana (eudeimonic) and spirituality (g-donic) dimensions. Based on the Van province sample, a survey was conducted and the data obtained were evaluated with Regression, Correlation and Anova tests. The findings show that individuals with high spirituality are not affected by the heavy psychological effects of the epidemic, they are less worried about the future, their luxury consumption habits are not much, and they reduce their spending tendencies during the epidemic. While it was concluded that hedonistic individuals were the individuals most affected by the devastating effects of the epidemic, it is one of the findings that individuals in the meaning dimension of happiness were more affected by the negative effects of the epidemic than individuals in the spiritual dimension, but relatively less affected by hedonistic individuals.

Keywords: Happiness, Economics, Easterlin Paradox, Covid-19 Outbreak