Jan-Emmanuel De Neve (born 14 March 1979) is a Belgian economist and professor at the University of Oxford where he directs the Wellbeing Research Centre. De Neve is also the KSI Fellow and Vice-Principal of Harris Manchester College. He is best known for his research on the economics of wellbeing which has led to new insights into the relationship between wellbeing and income, productivity, firm performance, and economic growth. De Neve is also an editor of the World Happiness Report and co-founder of the World Wellbeing Movement.
De Neve and Sonja Lyubomirsky currently guide the development of the world’s largest study on wellbeing at work for the global job search site Indeed with over 15 million surveys completed so far.
De Neve and Richard Layard co-authored the first major textbook on wellbeing science. It was published in 2023 by Cambridge University Press and hailed by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman as the "best book I have read in a long time - a fountain of knowledge and an inspiring call to action." The book is made freely available by way of open access and has been illustrated by visual artist David Shrigley.
COVID-19 pandemic
De Neve serves on The Lancet COVID-19 Commission and wrote in the British Medical Journal proposing to assess lockdown policy options in terms of their net effect on years of human wellbeing, or wellbeing-years (WELLBYs). In May 2020, in an interview with Flemish TV Channel VRT he noted that the economic and mental health consequences of the lockdown disproportionally fall on the younger generations while the health benefits of the lockdown mostly benefit the elderly. His remarks stirred a public debate on the need for targeted fiscal support and how to pay for it. De Neve elaborated on this in an interview with Trends Magazine and in pieces for the main Belgian newspapers Le Soir and De Standaard.
Behavioral insights and tax compliance
Starting in 2014, De Neve collaborated with the Ministry of Finance in Belgium to apply behavioral insights to tax compliance. This led to a series of experiments that varied the communication of the tax authority with all income tax-filers in Belgium. This collaboration has become a pioneering example of evidence-based policy making in Europe and its results were reported on in the Journal of Political Economy. Addressing the Federal Parliament, the Belgian Minister of Finance noted that the trials run in 2015 resulted in €30 million revenue collected more quickly compared with previous years and €4 million additional revenue with €1 million saved in enforcement costs. The cumulative impact over the ensuing years is estimated to have accelerated the payment of over €100 million in late taxes leading to structural gains in tax revenue and administrative cost savings.
Awards
His research was selected among "The Management Ideas that Mattered Most" by Harvard Business Review and he was awarded the Ruut Veenhoven Award by Erasmus Universiteit of Rotterdam for his contributions to the scientific study of happiness.
Education
De Neve was a Fulbright Scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School where he obtained a Master in Public Policy and was awarded the 2007 Ellen S. Raphael Award for intellectual and personal qualities. He received his PhD from the London School of Economics in 2011 with a thesis titled Essays in Political Economy and Voting Behaviour.
Personal life
De Neve is married to Belgian Architect Aude-Line Dulière, winner of the 2018 Wheelwright Prize.
Books
“Wellbeing: Science and Policy” (2023) Cambridge University Press. www.cambridge.org/wellbeing