|
on Economics of Happiness |
|
Issue of 2024‒09‒09
two papers chosen by Viviana Di Giovinazzo, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca |
| By: | Irene Centurión César (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | Two alternative well-being measures are presented, conceptually inspired by Sen's capabilities approach, and calculated for the departments of Uruguay, a country with a very high Human Development Index (HDI) according to UNDP. The first measure modifies the HDI considering alternative indicators within the traditional dimensions, while the second incorporates additional dimensions to the HDI. These two proposed metrics are compared with each other and with the traditional measurement considering the territorial differences of the indicators, through the elaboration of rankings and the elaboration of longitudinal clusters of departments which simultaneously consider the spatial and temporal dimension. It is found that the metric used affects both the ordering of the departments and the conformation of the clusters, validating the relevance of exploring alternative measures. In particular, departments with a very high HDI present average performance in the alternative measures. However, the conformation of the group with low performances is relatively stable regardless of the metric used. This paper provides tools for the temporal and spatial analysis of well-being in countries with a high or very high HDI, contributing to the discussion on the design of appropriate indicators of well-being at the subnational level. |
| Keywords: | Human Development, Regional Analysis, Cluster longitudinal data |
| JEL: | O15 O18 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-04-24 |
| By: | Ueda, Haruka |
| Abstract: | Well-being has become a key concept in the context of food studies, whereas food insecurity, as its deprivation, has become an issue that requires political commitment. These two academic traditions, although having been developed somewhat independently, can be connected by using Amartya Sen’s capability approach. In this study, we applied the Alkire-Foster multidimensional poverty/well-being measurement method, which was theoretically informed by the capability approach, to develop a new method for measuring the quality of dietary life in high-income societies. The data were obtained from a web-based questionnaire conducted with the Japanese population (n = 973). Our demonstration identified about 40% of the population as having high food capabilities to lead one's valuable dietary life, as well as about 20% of the population as living under food poverty. The results also showed that socioeconomic status (SES) was correlated with food poverty, but not with eating well, and that gender- and age-based inequalities in food capabilities were larger than SES ones. We also discussed fundamental issues relevant to this measurement, including the lack of social consensus about the quality of dietary life, the complex relationship between dietary. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2024–08–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cfcp15:344259 |