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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2015‒01‒31
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Felice, Emanuele |
| Abstract: | The last decades have seen a flourishing of new indicators to measure economic progress, but none of them has succeded in replacing GDP. Why? The article reviews what are arguably the three most successful alternatives to GDP (the Human Development Index, the Genuine Progress Indica-tor, and the Happy Planet Index), by focusing on their conceptual foundations (the capability ap-proach, utilitarism, the wealth approach, or a mix of these) − rather than on statistical solidity or mathematical refinement as most of the literature does. After discussing their faults, it is shown that the wealth approach underlying GDP can be easily extended to include environmental and well-being components (non-market wealth measured at market prices), and to substantiate this claim es-timates of environment-augmented GDP for 130 countries are presented and discussed. However, up to the present not even this line of research has been successful. This suggests that among the reasons behind GDP primacy there is not only philosophical consistency or statistical soundness, but also social suitability, being the standard GDP more suitable to reflect the goals of capitalist-market economies. Constructing composite indicators alternative to GDP is trivial, until when the current preference system has not been changed. To achieve this change, a dashboard approach may be preferable to composite indicators, since the former provides the different social groups with in-telligible quantitative instruments. |
| Keywords: | GDP, human development, sustainability, composite indicators, wealth |
| JEL: | B40 E01 I00 O10 Q50 |
| Date: | 2015–01–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61095&r=hap |
| By: | Ávalos, Eloy |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an analysis of social welfare under a distributive situation with economic envy and intolerance distribution income. Finally , we propose welfare criteria that account for the paradox of happiness. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, economic envy, tolerance of inequality paradox of happiness. |
| JEL: | D31 I30 |
| Date: | 2014–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61212&r=hap |
| By: | Talita Dalton-Greyling and Fiona Tregenna |
| Abstract: | This study employs a novel approach to measure and analyse quality of life in the Gauteng City-Region of South Africa. A comprehensive composite index is constructed. Comparing the quality of life of different groups, groups such as Africans, residents in urban informal settlements and females scoring relatively low. The weighting of the dimensions of quality of life is compared across groups, with ‘housing and infrastructure’ and ‘social relationships’ explaining the most variance for groups with lower and higher quality of life respectively. The findings emphasise the unevenness of wellbeing. The study provides a basis for measuring and analysing quality of life in other countries. |
| Keywords: | quality of life, wellbeing, composite indices, Gauteng City-Region, measuring instruments |
| JEL: | C38 I31 O15 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:481&r=hap |
| By: | Reiko Gotoh (Hitotsubashi University ); Naoki Yoshihara (Hitotsubashi University ) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility of a social choice rule to implement a social policy for “securing basic well-being for all.†The paper introduces a new scheme of social choice, called a social relation function (SRF), which associates a reflexive and transitive binary relation over a set of social policies to each profile of individual well-being appraisals and each profile of group evaluations. As part of the domains of SRFs, the available class of group evaluations is constrained by three conditions. Furthermore, the non-negative response (NR) and the weak Pareto condition (WP) are introduced. NR demands giving priority to group evaluation, while treating the groups as formally equal relative to each other. WP requires treating impartially the well-being appraisals of all individuals. In conclusion, this paper shows that under some reasonable assumptions, there exists an SRF that satisfies NR and WP. |
| Keywords: | basic well-being, individual well-being appraisals, social relation functions |
| JEL: | D63 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2015-2&r=hap |
| By: | Maike Luhmann ; Pola Weiss ; Georg Hosoya ; Michael Eid |
| Abstract: | Previous research on unemployment and life satisfaction has focused on the effects of unemployment on individuals but neglected the effects on their partners. In the present study, we used dyadic multilevel models to analyze longitudinal data from 2,973 couples selected from a German representative panel study to examine the effects of unemployment on life satisfaction in couples over several years. We found that unemployment decreases life satisfaction in both members of the couple, but the effect is more pronounced for those who become unemployed (actors) than for the other couple members (partners). In both couple members, the reaction is attenuated if they share the same labor status after the job loss: Actors experienced a greater drop in life satisfaction if their partners were employed than if they were unemployed at the time of the job loss, and partners reacted negatively to the job loss only if they were employed or inactive in the workforce, but not if they were unemployed themselves. With respect to couple-level moderator variables, we found that both actors and partners reacted more negatively to unemployment if they had children. The reaction was also more negative in male actors than in female actors, but there was no difference between male and female partners. In sum, these findings indicate that changes in life satisfaction can be caused by major life events experienced by significant others. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being, life satisfaction, unemployment, close relationships, dyadic data analysis |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp724&r=hap |
| By: | Demircioğlu, Emre |
| Abstract: | Performance and happiness go hand in hand in creating a corporation flourishing. With each associate in nursing acceptable performance management system and a positive approach to influencing those who will increase happiness, associate in nursing organization’s key results will additional probably be achieved and sustained. Employee performance affects company performance, If you categorical clear expectations to your workers, each you and your company can relish augmented motivation and every one that interprets directly into clearly measurable goals, improved morale, a happier geographical point and better profits. See whether or not your company has all of the objectives of performance management in situ, and whether or not you’re really receiving all of the benefits! Business outcome measures are assessed as well as client satisfaction, worker performance and worker happiness. Each applied mathematics (regression analysis/p-values) and analysis are used retrospectively on knowledge collected over 3 years. The research paper explore the link between happiness and performance victimization a longtime leadership development program designed to extend the amount of happy – high performers in a company inside an outsized international corporation. There are, however, implications for leadership, future analysis regarding happy – high performance and teaching. Leaders recognized their impact on worker happiness and performance and learned however happiness are often evaluated in reference to a lot of ancient business measures. The everyday method of educational theory preceding field application is reversed during this field study. The observations from the sector might interest practitioners and stimulate academics to any study happy – high performance in workplace settings. Trends within the applied mathematics knowledge, leadership feedback and responses from a “Happiness Index” establish many themes including: (1) happiness and performance tend to maneuver within the same direction, (2) high play acting staff manufacture glad customers, and (3) happy staff end in glad customers. the tiny sample size, retrospective nature of the analysis and lack of a longitudinal approach cause the results and conclusions to be strained. |
| Keywords: | organization performance, organization happiness, workplace, psychological well-beings, leadership |
| JEL: | L2 L21 L26 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61484&r=hap |
| By: | Stark, Oded ; Bielawski, Jakub ; Jakubek, Marcin |
| Abstract: | We present a theory that systematically and causally links the well-being of native inhabitants with variation in the extent of the assimilation of migrants. Recent empirical findings are yielded as predictions of the theory. |
| Keywords: | Migrants' assimilation,The well-being of native inhabitants |
| JEL: | I31 J61 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuewef:78&r=hap |