|
on Economics of Happiness |
|
Issue of 2017‒06‒11
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Stefano Consiglio; Luigi Moschera; Mariavittoria Cicellin; Laura Borgogni; Chiara Consiglio; Pietro Menatta (-) |
| Abstract: | Although the use of agency contracts has become the norm in all public and private organizations, existing studies are mostly cross-sectional in nature, generally comparing behavioral differences between permanent full time workers with the plethora of all contingent workers, making difficult to generalize results. Few empirical investigations have so far studied attitudes and behaviors of agency workers and how the peculiar type of contract influences their work-related attitudes. In particular, there is no consensus about how agency contract affects individual behavioral and psychological variables as affective dual commitment, job insecurity, satisfaction, turnover intention. In order to fill this gap, the main goal of the study we present in this paper is to analyze well-being of Italian temporary and permanent agency workers, according to a perspective that emphasize positive aspects. We aim to understand how workers experience to be agencies, enhancing also critical implications against well-being. |
| Keywords: | agency workers, TWAs, well-being, dual commitment, job insecurity, Job Acts. holders |
| Date: | 2017–03–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crj:dpaper:2_2017&r=hap |
| By: | Kuroki, Masanori |
| Abstract: | This paper presents empirical evidence that racial diversity and immigrant population at the local level tend to be associated with lower life satisfaction for Whites by matching individual data with the county-level population data during the period 2005-2010. The magnitudes I find suggest that a ten percentage-point increase in the share of the non-White population (approximately one-half of a standard deviation) is associated with 0.006 and 0.007 points reduction in life satisfaction on a four-point scale for White men and White women, respectively. For White men, this effect appears to be driven by the percentage of the population that is Black. I also find that a ten percentage-point increase in the percentage of the immigrant population (approximately two standard deviations) is associated with 0.009 and 0.021 points reduction in life satisfaction for White men and White women, respectively. The percentage of the non-White population seems to reduce older Whites’ life satisfaction more than that of younger Whites. Though the scale of the findings relating to the impact of local racial compositions and immigrant population is relatively modest, the findings may pose a challenge in the coming years as the percentage of the population that is non-White rises in the United States. |
| Keywords: | life satisfaction,happiness,well-being,racial,immigration |
| JEL: | J15 I31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:76&r=hap |
| By: | Gabor Hajdu (Institute for Sociology, Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences and MTA-ELTE Peripato Comparative Social Dynamics Research Group, Hungary); Tamas Hajdu (Institute of Economics, Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between intra-couple income distribution and subjective well-being, using nationally representative data from Hungary. We show that the association between the woman’s relative income (the woman’s share of the couple’s total earnings) and life satisfaction is negative not only for men, but for women as well. Because we control for financial disadvantages on the individual and household level, as well as for socio-economic and job characteristics of the respondent and their partner, the result can be interpreted as the impact of traditional gender roles and the persistence of the traditional male breadwinner mentality. In addition, we show that gender norms moderate this negative association. Among those with low levels of traditional norms, the woman’s relative income has no effect on life satisfaction, whereas among those who prefer traditional gender roles, the negative association is stronger. Our results suggest that conflicts between the gender norms and the social and economic reality reduce life satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | intra-couple income distribution; life satisfaction; gender norms; relative income |
| JEL: | I31 D10 J16 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:1711&r=hap |
| By: | Sylvie Lambert; Dominique van de Walle; Paola Villar |
| Abstract: | Divorce and widowhood followed by remarriage are common for women in Africa. A key question is how such discontinuous marital trajectories affect women’s wellbeing. Women’s marital trajectories in Senegal are described and correlated with measures of voice, resource constraints, and wellbeing as measured by consumption. Considerable selection into divorce and widowhood as well as subsequent remarriage is documented. Poorer women are more vulnerable to both dissolution and remarriage, and hence bear more of the costs while being nevertheless afforded a safety net in the form of a male protector. Marital breakdowns and their aftermaths are far from neutral in terms of women’s wellbeing. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-124&r=hap |
| By: | Nikolova, Milena (IZA); Popova, Olga (CERGE-EI) |
| Abstract: | Despite the burgeoning happiness economics literature, scholars have largely ignored explorations of how individuals or countries translate given resources into well-being. Using a balanced panel on 91 countries from Gallup Analytics between 2009–2014 and borrowing insights from production theory, we investigate whether nations in our sample efficiently convert their current resources (i.e. income, education and health) into subjective well-being. Our results imply that well-being efficiency gains are possible worldwide. We find that unemployment and involuntary part-time employment are associated with lower efficiency, while good institutions as proxied by the rule of law, as well as social support and freedom perceptions improve it. Within-country investigations for Bulgaria – an upper-middle-income country that often lurks at the bottom of the international well-being rankings – demonstrate that efficiency is lower among the unemployed, divorced/separated, widowed, the old, large households and those with children, while living in a city, freedom, generosity and social support improve efficiency. This paper provides the first evidence from an international panel concerning the issue of whether higher well-being levels are possible with current resources and raises policy-relevant questions about the appropriate instruments to improve well-being efficiency. |
| Keywords: | happiness, subjective well-being, efficiency analysis, conversion efficiency, comparative analysis |
| JEL: | D60 I31 O15 P52 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10774&r=hap |