D64 - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational TransfersReturn

This paper inquires into beginnings of a gift economy as well as related contemporary institutions. Gift economy and the gift as a complex phenomenon was a common base for institutions of markets, credits, taxation, alms or social security. Inquires of origins, development and contemporary forms are consequently important contributions to our understanding to contemporary social institutions. We can also inquire with economists into present forms of a gift and look for reply to different questions about efficiency of a gift: Why to give, how to give and what way give a gift.

In this paper I am trying to provide the reader with a brief overview of contemporary discussion about recently frequently mentioned topic of economics and happiness. In the last few years the number of publications related to happiness from the economic perspective growth exponentially. As the importance of this topic seems to grow significantly, I modestly intend to provide Czech public with a very starting reference point for further research in this field. In the first part I sum up the basic terms of subjective well-being and Easterlin paradox and give an overview of the most striking empirical observations. The second part shortly describes approach to the happiness problem of selected key historical personalities, namely Aristotle, Smith and Genovesi. In the third part I outline present key challenge for the economic theory - tackling with the reciprocity phenomenon.