|
on Economics of Happiness |
|
Issue of 2009‒09‒19
three papers chosen by |
| By: | John Knight; Ramani Gunatilaka |
| Abstract: | The paper uses an appropriate survey from rural China to answer the question: Is happiness infectious, i.e. does the happiness of an individual depend positively on the happiness of their reference group? The evidence is consistent with this hypothesis, but the challenge is to solve the ‘reflection problem’, i.e. is the apparent effect of neighbours’ happiness on own happiness a causal one or merely a reflection? A ‘quasi-panel’ approach is adopted, treating villages as groups and individuals as multiple observations within each group, and using an error components 2SLS estimator. The results suggest that a major part of the relationship is indeed causal: Adam Smith’s insight was correct! The normative and policy implications are briefly considered. |
| Keywords: | Happiness, Social interaction, Relative deprivation, China |
| JEL: | D01 D60 D64 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:446&r=hap |
| By: | UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre. MONEE project |
| Abstract: | This study examines the evolving and diverging challenges for the well-being of children after two decades of transition. Following a long period of sustained economic growth and gradual improvements in living standards, the global economic crisis is now threatening to reverse some of the recent positive achievements and plunge households and children into another phase of uncertainty.<br /> <br /> The Innocenti Social Monitor 2009 uses information from administrative and survey sources, some of it not previously available, to identify critical economic and social trends and assess the impact of policies on children in the period immediately preceding the current crisis. It also looks at changes in the economic and demographic context in which children are growing up as well as at trends of public social expenditure, all influencing policy choices that affect children. While acknowledging the important improvements in living standards which growth brought to children in the region, the report highlights persistent disparities in the distribution of benefits and in particular the vulnerability of children to the process of change. This has been partly due to the difficulties of policy to reach population groups most at risk and to provide adequate support to reduce inequalities and exclusion.<br /><br /> Providing a comprehensive overview of the decade up to 2008 and discussing monitoring and data challenges for the region, the report aims to help support and guide policy debate and decisions in a period of economic crisis. It is hoped to encourage policy makers to have a greater focus on child well-being, guided by human rights principles, to support those children most in need, to promote social inclusion and to give all children the opportunity to develop to their full potential.<br /><br /> |
| Keywords: | child poverty; child protection; child well-being; economic growth; economic transition; education; health; social indicators; social policy; |
| JEL: | P3 P36 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:insomo:insomo562&r=hap |
| By: | Pilon, André Francisco |
| Abstract: | Problems of difficult settlement or solution in the contemporary world cannot be solved by segmented academic formats, market-place interests or mass-media headlines; instead of dealing with “taken for granted issues” (the apparent “bubbles” in the surface), public policies, research and teaching programmes should detect the issues and work with them deep inside the “boiling pot”. Beyond the creation of choices and the development of capacities and motivations, education, environment, health and quality of life must be embedded into and promoted by the cultural, social, political and economical institutions, which are more critical than individual motives and morals. Problems should be assessed and dealt with considering the dynamic and complex configurations intertwining, as donors and recipients, four dimensions of being-in-the-world: intimate (subject’s cognitive and affective processes), interactive (groups’ mutual support and values), social (political, economical and cultural systems) and biophysical (biological endowment, natural and man-made environments). The process of change must take into account the singularity of each dimension and their mutual support, as they combine to induce the events (deficits and assets), cope with consequences (desired or undesired) and contribute for change (diagnosis and prognosis). Development projects should be oriented to enhance the connections and seal the ruptures between the different dimensions of being-in-the-world, fostering their mutual support and dynamic equilibrium. Individuals, groups, society, natural and man-made environments should be dealt with simultaneously as a necessary condition to develop an ecosystemic model of culture. Changing the current “world-system” is mandatory, in view of new paradigms of growth, power, wealth, work and freedom (a framework for planning, implementation and evaluation of public policies, as well of research and teaching programmes, is proposed). |
| Keywords: | education; culture; public policies; environment; ecosystems |
| JEL: | Q56 O21 E61 |
| Date: | 2009–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17242&r=hap |