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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2022‒12‒12
five papers chosen by |
| By: | Sarracino, Francesco (STATEC Research – National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies); O'Connor, Kelsey J. (STATEC Research – National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) |
| Abstract: | We estimate a measure of well-being efficiency that assesses countries' ability to transform inputs into subjective well-being (Cantril ladder). We use the six inputs (real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom of choice, absence of corruption, and generosity) identified in the World Happiness Reports and apply Data Envelopment Analysis to a sample of 126 countries. Efficiency scores reveal that high ranking subjective well-being countries, such as the Nordics, are not strictly the most efficient ones. Also, the scores are uncorrelated with economic efficiency. This suggests that the implicit assumption that economic efficiency promotes well-being is not supported. Subjective well-being efficiency can be improved by changing the amount (scale) or composition of inputs and their use (technical efficiency). For instance countries with lower unemployment, and greater healthy life expectancy and optimism are more efficient. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being, World Happiness Report, efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis |
| JEL: | I31 E23 D60 O47 O15 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15669&r=hap |
| By: | Zhang, Congying; Xiang, Jingru |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:asae21:329379&r=hap |
| By: | Youxing Zhang; Peter Howley; Clemens Hetschko |
| Abstract: | Governments will often look to publicly signal their efforts to tackle issues of concern as a way of garnering political support. Combining data on the public disclosure of anti-corruption efforts and individual well-being in China, we show that such signals may increase the salience of the issue in question and hence diminish the life satisfaction of citizens with low political trust. For citizens with high trust, such signals appear to enhance life satisfaction. This means that signalling efforts may have unintended negative consequences on population well-being and thus political support, particularly when faced with low political trust. |
| Keywords: | corruption, life satisfaction, political trust, signalling theory, confirmation bias |
| JEL: | D73 I31 P48 O17 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10058&r=hap |
| By: | Senik, Claudia (Paris School of Economics); Clark, Andrew E. (Paris School of Economics); D'Ambrosio, Conchita (University of Luxembourg); Lepinteur, Anthony (University of Luxembourg); Schröder, Carsten (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We carry out a difference-in-differences analysis of a representative real-time survey conducted as part of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study and show that teleworking had a negative average effect on life satisfaction over the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. This average effect hides considerable heterogeneity reflecting genderrole asymmetry: lower life satisfaction is only found for unmarried men and women with school-age children. The negative effect for women with school-age children disappears in 2021, suggesting adaptation to new constraints and/or the adoption of coping strategies. |
| Keywords: | life satisfaction, teleworking, work from home, gender, childcare, COVID-19, SOEP |
| JEL: | I31 M5 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15715&r=hap |
| By: | Mduduzi Biyase (College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg); Liza-Mari Volschenk (College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg); Sheila De Carvalho (College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the relationship between occupation status and subjective wellbeing (SWB) in South Africa, an issue that has received almost no attention in this field, with data from the 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2017 waves of the National income Dynamics Study (NIDS). While the results based on the random effect ordered probit (REOP) suggest a positive relationship between occupation and SWB, the quantile regression estimates reveal a differential influence of occupation for individuals at different levels of the conditional SWB distribution. Specifically, the quantile regression reveals that while occupation status enters with an expected positive sign, its significant effect is mostly located in the lower to slightly upper part of the SWB distribution (Q25 and Q75). Thus, while our finding clearly supports the positive effect of occupation reported in the existing literature, the distributional influence is more nuanced, implying that the estimates derived from the standard estimators (such as REOP model) might underestimates this effect of occupation at these quantiles at the Q25. The effect of occupation on SWB is robust to the inclusion of interaction terms, such as the interactive effect between race and SWB. |
| Keywords: | NIDS; occupation; quantile regression; REOP; SWB. |
| JEL: | L22 M13 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ady:wpaper:edwrg-01-2022&r=hap |