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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2012‒02‒27
ten papers chosen by |
| By: | Lasse Steiner; Lucian Schneider |
| Abstract: | The artistic labor market is marked by several adversities, such as low wages, above-average unemployment, and constrained underemployment. Nevertheless, it attracts many young people. The number of students exceeds the available jobs by far. A potential explanation for this puzzle is that artistic work might result in exceptionally high job satisfaction, a conjecture that has been mentioned at various times in the literature. We conduct the first direct empirical investigation of artists’ job satisfaction. The analysis is based on panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey (SOEP). Artists on average are found to be considerably more satisfied with their work than non-artists, a finding that corroborates the conjectures in the literature. Differences in income, working hours, and personality cannot account for the observed difference in job satisfaction. Partially, but not fully, the higher job satisfaction can be attributed to the higher self-employment rate among artists. Suggestive evidence is found that superior “procedural” characteristics of artistic work, such as increased variety and on-the-job learning, contribute to the difference in job satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | job satisfaction, artists, work-preference, cultural economics |
| JEL: | Z10 J24 J28 J31 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp430&r=hap |
| By: | Milo Bianchi (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - CNRS : UMR7088 - Université Paris IX - Paris Dauphine) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that utility differences between the self-employed and employees increase with financial development. This effect is not explained by increased profits but by an increased value of non-monetary benefits, in particular job independence. We interpret these findings by building a simple occupational choice model in which financial constraints may impede the creation of firms and depress labor demand, thereby pushing some individuals into self-employment for lack of salaried jobs. In this setting, financial development favors a better matching between individual motivation and occupation, thereby increasing entrepreneurial utility despite increasing competition and so reducing profits. |
| Keywords: | Financial development; entrepreneurship; job satisfaction |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00670031&r=hap |
| By: | Rachel Margolis; Mikko Myrskylä (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We examine how family, money, and health explain variation in life satisfaction (“happiness”) over the life cycle. Globally, these factors explain a substantial fraction of happiness, increasing from 12 percent in young adulthood to 15 percent in mature adulthood. Health is the most important factor, and its importance increases with age. Income is important only at ages below 50. Remarkably, the contribution of family is small across ages. Across regions health is most important in the wealthier, and income in the poorer regions of the world. Family explains a substantial fraction of happiness only in Western Europe and Anglophone countries. |
| Keywords: | World, family, health, income, mental health |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2012-012&r=hap |
| By: | Akay, Alpaslan (IZA); Martinsson, Peter (University of Gothenburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses both subjective well-being and survey experimental data to analyze how people's positional concerns regarding income and goods vary with age. The subjective well-being approach is mainly based on German panel data for the period 1984-2009 (German Socio-Economic Panel), while the survey experimental approach is based on a tailor-made experimental design conducted among Swedish adults. Our analysis suggests that the degree of positional concerns is not homogenous across the life cycle. Our different analytical approaches show a robust life cycle pattern of positional concerns: young people experience no or a low degree of positional concerns, yet the level of concerns for income increases gradually and significantly with age. The results also differ across goods: while car consumption is similar to income, the positional concern for leisure time decreases through the life cycle. |
| Keywords: | positional concerns, life cycle, subjective well-being, survey experiment |
| JEL: | C90 D63 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6342&r=hap |
| By: | Hsee, Christopher K. (University of Chicago); Rottenstreich, Yuval (New York University); Stutzer, Alois (University of Basel) |
| Abstract: | Standard economic analysis assumes that people make choices that maximize their utility. Yet both popular discourse and other fields assume that people sometimes fail to make optimal choices and thus adversely affect their own happiness. Most social sciences thus frequently describe some patterns of decision as suboptimal. We review evidence of suboptimal choices that arise for two reasons. First, people err in predicting the utility they may accrue from available choice options due to the evaluation mode. Second, people choose on the basis of salient rules that are unlikely to maximize utility. Our review is meant to highlight the possibility of a research program that combines economic analysis with measures of experienced individual well-being to improve people's happiness. |
| Keywords: | suboptimal choice, individual well-being, experienced utility, evaluation mode, salient rule, utility misprediction |
| JEL: | D01 D11 D60 D91 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6346&r=hap |
| By: | Rudd, Melanie (Stanford University); Vohs, Kathleen D. (University of MN); Aaker, Jennifer (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | When do people feel as if they are rich in time? Not often, research and daily experience suggest. However, three experiments showed that participants who felt awe, relative to other emotions, felt they had more time available (Experiments 1, 3) and were less impatient (Experiment 2). Participants who experienced awe were also more willing to volunteer their time to help others (Experiment 2), more strongly preferred experiences over material products (Experiment 3), and experienced a greater boost in life satisfaction (Experiment 3). Mediation analyses revealed that these changes in decision making and well-being were due to awe's ability to alter the subjective experience of time. Experiences of awe bring people into the present moment, which underlies awe's capacity to adjust time perception, influence decisions, and make life feel more satisfying than it would otherwise. |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:2095&r=hap |
| By: | Daniel M. Haybron; Valerie Tiberius |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the normative principles that should guide policies aimed at promoting happiness or, more broadly, well-being. After arguing that well-being policy is both legitimate and necessary, we lay out a case for "pragmatic subjectivism": given widely accepted principles of respect for persons, well-being policy may not assume any view of well-being, subjectivist or objectivist. Rather it should promote what its intended beneficiaries see as good for them: pleasure for hedonists, excellence for Aristotelians, etc. Specifically, well-being policy should promote citizens’ "personal welfare values": those values—and not mere preferences—that individuals' see as bearing on their well-being. We suggest a variety of means for determining what people value, but conclude that there is no canonical means of doing this: there will often be some indeterminacy about what people value. Finally, we consider how pragmatic subjectivism works in practice, arguing that headline measures of well-being should include subjective well-being—given that it is so widely and deeply valued—and perhaps other values as well. |
| Date: | 2012–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2012-02&r=hap |
| By: | Schurer, S.;; Yong, J.; |
| Abstract: | Fixed effects models are the gold standard in empirical well-being research, however, their applicability is limited to controlling for intercept heterogeneity and identifying effects of timevarying variables. This paper investigates the usefulness of random coecient models in con- trolling for heterogeneity in well-being and the marginal utility of income, and explores whether these forms of heterogeneity depend on the Big-Five personality traits. Using unique Australian longitudinal data that have personality measures available in two time periods we show that a Mundlak-adjusted random coeffcient model yields almost identical results as the mixed effects model, making it a powerful modelling alternative when interest lies in multiple forms of heterogeneity. Big-Five personality explains 10 percent of the variation in intercept heterogeneity and 6-7 percent of the variation in the marginal utility of income. For women, we suggest that the marginal utility of income is significantly linked to personality, implying important gender-differences in the expected effectiveness of financial incentives to influence behaviour. |
| Keywords: | Subjective well-being, Marginal utility of income, Heterogeneity, Personality, Random coeffcient models. |
| JEL: | I31 D00 C23 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:hectdg:12/01&r=hap |
| By: | Becchetti, Leonardo (Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit); Pisani, Fabio (Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit) |
| Abstract: | We investigate factors affecting happiness on a sample of Italian secondary school students. We find that money matters since family’s house ownership, mortgages and (class) relative wealth significantly affect life satisfaction. Other crucial factors are geographical residence (those living in Milan are significantly less happy), mother’s occupation, trust on family and friendships. Even though we cannot rule out inverse causality and other forms of endogeneity, the characteristics of many of the significant regressors such as family wealth, parental job and geographical residence (not under the decisional power of the student) suggest a direct causality nexus for these factors. |
| Keywords: | life satisfaction; secondary school; wealth |
| JEL: | E01 I31 |
| Date: | 2012–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:aiccon:2012_101&r=hap |
| By: | Leonardo Becchetti (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Fabio Pisani (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata") |
| Abstract: | We investigate factors affecting happiness on a sample of Italian secondary school students. We find that money matters since family’s house ownership, mortgages and (class) relative wealth significantly affect life satisfaction. Other crucial factors are geographical residence (those living in Milan are significantly less happy), mother’s occupation, trust on family and friendships. Even though we cannot rule out inverse causality and other forms of endogeneity, the characteristics of many of the significant regressors such as family wealth, parental job and geographical residence (not under the decisional power of the student) suggest a direct causality nexus for these factors. |
| Keywords: | life satisfaction, secondary school, wealth |
| JEL: | I31 E01 |
| Date: | 2012–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:223&r=hap |