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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2022‒02‒28
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Remi Yin (Uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg); Anthony Lepinteur (Uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg); Andrew E. Clark (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Conchita D’ambrosio (Uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | We use annual data on over 150 countries between 2005 and 2018 to look at the relationship between subjective well-being (both cognitive and affective) and the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI appears to be more closely related to cognitive than affective well-being. We also consider the relationships between the three HDI components (the Income, Health, and Education Indices) and well-being, and find that, on average, the Income Index has the strongest predictive power. Importantly, we find that the three HDI components only matter equally in Western and rich countries. Our analysis contributes to the discussion about cultural sensitivity in paradigms of societal development in two ways. We first show that differences in preferences toward development aims exist. Second, we propose a weighting procedure for a culturally-sensitive version of the HDI. |
| Keywords: | Human Development Index,Subjective well-being,Gallup World Poll,Country groups |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03467218&r= |
| By: | Andrew E. Clark (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Demography studies the characteristics of populations. One such characteristic is well-being: this was the subject of the 2019 Wittgenstein Conference. Here, I discuss how objective well-being domains can be summarised to produce an overall well-being score, and how taking self-reported (subjective) well-being into account may help in this effort. But given that there is more than one type of subjective well-being score, we would want to know which one is "best". We would also need to decide whose well-being counts, or counts more than that of others. Finally, I briefly mention the potential role of adaptation and social comparisons in the calculation of societal well-being. |
| Keywords: | Subjective well-being,Demography,Measurement,Policy |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03467198&r= |
| By: | Korsgren, Pontus (Leiden University); van Lent, Max (Leiden University) |
| Abstract: | Earmarked paternity leave has been introduced in an attempt to increase fathers’ involvement in child rearing and to achieve gender equality in the labor market and at home. So far well-being effects of such policies are unexplored. This paper takes a first step in that direction by studying the impact of earmarked paternity leave quota on life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and work-life balance using several policy changes in Europe over the period 1993-2007. We find that earmarked paternity leave increases life satisfaction by 0.18 on a 10 point scale which is equivalent to a 10.8 percentage point increase even decades later. Both fathers and mothers benefit, though the increase in life satisfaction for mothers is nearly 30% higher than that of fathers. Perhaps surprisingly, the impact on job satisfaction and work-life balance is close to zero. Hence even when the impact of paternity leave quota on the labor market are small, the increases in life satisfaction may still justify the existence of such policies. |
| Keywords: | family leave policies, paternity leave, quota, well-being, life satisfaction |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J16 J18 I31 I38 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15022&r= |
| By: | Huebener, Mathias; Waights, Sevrin; Spiess, C. Katharina; Siegel, Nico A.; Wagner, Gert G. |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of Covid-19 and related restrictions on individuals with dependent children in Germany. We specifically focus on the role of day care center and school closures, which may be regarded as a “disruptive exogenous shock” to family life. We make use of a novel representative survey of parental well-being collected in May and June 2020 in Germany, when schools and day care centers were closed but while other measures had been relaxed and new infections were low. In our descriptive analysis, we compare well-being during this period with a pre-crisis period for different groups. In a difference-in-differences design, we compare the change for individuals with children to the change for individuals without children, accounting for unrelated trends as well as potential survey mode and context effects. We find that the crisis lowered the relative well-being of individuals with children, especially for individuals with young children, for women, and for persons with lower secondary schooling qualifications. Our results suggest that public policy measures taken to contain Covid-19 can have large effects on family well-being, with implications for child development and parental labor market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | children; COMPASS; coronavirus; Covid-19; day care closures; well-being; family; school closures; SOEP |
| JEL: | D10 H75 I20 |
| Date: | 2022–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113559&r= |
| By: | Catapano, Rhia (Rotman School of Management); Quoidbach, Jordi (ESADE Business School); Mogilner, Cassie (UCLA); Aaker, Jennifer (Stanford Graduate School of Business) |
| Abstract: | Do financial resources relate to how important meaning is for one's happiness? Across three large-scale datasets spanning over 500,000 individuals across 123 countries, we examined the relationship between meaning and happiness for individuals who vary in financial resources. Whether based on actual income level (Studies 1 and 2) or subjective assessments of socio-economic status (Study 3), the results reveal that meaning is a weaker predictor of happiness for individuals with greater (vs. lesser) financial resources. Collectively, these studies suggest that having greater financial resources weakens the link between meaning and happiness. |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:4003&r= |
| By: | Guo, Shu; Zhang, ZhongXiang |
| Abstract: | With the appearance of “wellbeing stagnation”, the Chinese government has gradually realized the negative impact of increasingly severe environmental problem on people’s wellbeing, and has then has formulated a series of environmental policies. Based on the balanced panel data from2014 to 2018 from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS)and by means of the fixed effects model, we analyze the relationships between heterogeneous environmental regulations (ERs) and subjective wellbeing (SWB) from the perspective of diligent governance. Our results show that command-control environmental regulation (CER) and voluntary environmental regulation (VER)have positive effects on SWB, but there existthe heterogeneity effects in the links between ERs and SWB. Vulnerable populations, including those with rural hukou, less educated, have paidmore attention to VER, whereas the view of other groups is the opposite. Similarly, the people with low incomes or living in economically underdeveloped areas or western region, are sensitive to VER, while the others only pay attention to CER.The SWB of those with better health can be enhanced by CER, and the SWB of those with poor health are unaffected by CER and VER.Further channel analysis illustrates that CER can improve SWB by increasing people’s evaluation of the government, while VER cannot. Our results imply that the people would place more weight on environmental governance as their income rises, and can help the government institute more flexible environmental policies to improve people’s wellbeing. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2021–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:feemwp:317125&r= |
| By: | Voorhoeve, Alex |
| Abstract: | Epicurus posited that the best life involves the greatest pleasures. He also held that it involves attaining tranquillity. Many commentators, including Ken Binmore, have expressed scepticism that these two claims are compatible. For, they argue, Epicurus’ tranquil life is so austere that it is hard to see how it could be maximally pleasurable. Here, I offer an Epicurean account of the pleasures of tranquillity. I also consider different ways of valuing lives from a hedonistic point of view. Benthamite hedonists value lives by the sum of pleasures minus the sum of pains, weighted by intensity and duration. Meanwhile, Binmore proposes that Epicurus valued lives by their worst episode. In contrast, I outline an Epicurean argument for why the best life is one in which a person attains tranquillity and tastes its pleasures until death. |
| Keywords: | Epicurus; well-being; hedonism; value of life; Springer deal |
| JEL: | I31 |
| Date: | 2022–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113342&r= |