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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2007‒06‒23
ten papers chosen by |
| By: | Jordi Brandts; María Fernanda Rivas |
| Abstract: | The existence of punishment opportunities has been shown to cause efficiency in public goods experiments to increase considerably. In this paper we ask whether punishment also has a downside in terms of process dissatisfaction. We conduct an experiment to study the conjecture that an environment with stronger punishment possibilities leads to higher material but lower subjective well-being. The more general motivation for our study stems from the notion that people??s subjective well-being may be affected by the institutional environment they find themselves in. Our findings show that harsher punishment possibilities lead to signficantly higher well-being, controlling for earnings and other relevant variables. People derive independent satisfaction from interacting under the protection of strong punishment possibilities. These results complement the evidence on the neural basis of altruistic punishment reported in de Quervain et al. (2004). |
| Keywords: | Public Goods, Experiments, Well-being, Punishment |
| JEL: | C92 D60 H40 |
| Date: | 2007–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:autbar:705.07&r=hap |
| By: | Alice Coulter; Hartley Dean |
| Abstract: | 'Work-life balance' generally refers to how people may combine paid employment with family responsibilities. The UK government's attempts to promote work-life balance are connected to wider concerns to maximise labour-force participation and include policies on tax credits, child care and employment rights. Employers favour work-life balance if it promotes the flexibility of labour supply and enables them to retain valued staff. There are concerns about the extent to which work-life balance policies benefit lower-income groups. This paper reports findings from a study, based on in-depth interviews with 42 economically active parents from a low-income neighbourhood. Participants supported the idea of work-life balance, but many found it difficult to achieve. Stress and long hours are unavoidable in some jobs, or else income and prospects must be forgone in order to obtain 'family-friendly' working conditions. Employment rights are poorly understood. Standards of management at work are inconsistent. Pay levels are insufficient and, though benefits/tax credits help, they are complex and badly administered. Childcare provision is available, but quality and access is uneven. Participants had mixed views as to the efficacy of support and services available in the neighbourhood. Participants offered different accounts of their experiences depending upon whether they were having to put their work first or family life first, and whether they felt ambivalent or content about this. The clearest finding was that participants tended to be fundamentally disempowered - by the unpredictability of the labour market, the dominance of a 'business case' rationale, their lack of confidence in childcare provision and a lack of belief in their employment and benefit rights. |
| Keywords: | work-life balance, low-income, employment rights, tax credits, childcare |
| JEL: | I38 J22 J40 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:/114&r=hap |
| By: | Pamela Kaval (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | Over 90 percent of people living in the United States participate in some type of outdoor recreation, from walking the dog to rock climbing. These activities increase a person’s well-being and are examples of recreation benefits. These benefits can be measured by using a variety of available techniques to calculate consumer surplus values. Consumer surplus values for recreation in U.S. parks were collated from an extensive literature review. Studies conducted between 1967 and 2003 yielded over 1,200 observations of non-market benefits. From this meta-analysis, it was determined that an average day of recreation in U.S. parks provide people with a non-market benefit of $60.50/day (2006 US$). With an estimated 924 million visitor days, the benefit of outdoor recreation on federal park lands during 2006 was estimated at $54.7 billion dollars. This analysis did not include state, county, and city parks, and hence the total benefit of outdoor recreation in all U.S. parks would be significantly higher. |
| Keywords: | outdoor recreation; consumer surplus; non-market benefits; United States Parks |
| JEL: | Q26 |
| Date: | 2007–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:07/12&r=hap |
| By: | Tania Burchardt; Polly Vizard |
| Abstract: | In October 2007, a unified Commission on Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) will begin operation in Britain. The Commission will have responsibility for monitoring and promoting human rights and equality on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, transgender status, and religion/belief. As a precursor to the Commission, the Prime Minister established the Equalities Review, an independent, high-level, investigation of the causes of persistent inequality and disadvantage in British society. Its final report, Fairness and Freedom, in February 2007 adopted the capability approach as its measurement framework and recommended that all public bodies use the framework to "agree priorities, set targets, and evaluate progress towards equality" (p.110). In particular, the Review recommended that the framework be used by the CEHR to inform its regular 'state of the nation' report. This paper, and its companion, Developing a Capability List: Final Recommendations of the Equalities Review Steering Group on Measurement (CASEpaper 121), were prepared as background papers to assist in the development of the measurement framework for the Equalities Review. It discusses the challenges in translating capability theory into a practical measurement tool in the context of measuring inequality in Britain in the 21st century. This includes the definition of equality, a procedure for generating and revising a list of central and valuable capabilities (this is considered in more detail in CASE/121), a measurement framework for monitoring trends in inequality, exploring the causes of inequality, and identifying possible policy interventions, and, finally, the types of information and analysis which are required. |
| Keywords: | capability approach, equality, measurement |
| JEL: | I31 I32 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:/120&r=hap |
| By: | Tania Burchardt; Polly Vizard |
| Abstract: | In October 2007, a unified Commission on Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) will begin operation in Britain. The Commission will have responsibility for monitoring and promoting human rights and equality on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, transgender status, and religion/belief. As a precursor to the Commission, the Prime Minister established the Equalities Review, an independent, high-level, investigation of the causes of persistent inequality and disadvantage in British society. Its final report, Fairness and Freedom, in February 2007 adopted the capability approach as its measurement framework and recommended that all public bodies use the framework to "agree priorities, set targets, and evaluate progress towards equality" (p.110). In particular, the Review recommended that the framework be used by the CEHR to inform its regular 'state of the nation' report. This paper, and its companion, Definition of equality and framework for measurement: Final Recommendations of the Equalities Review Steering Group on Measurement (CASEpaper 120) were prepared as background papers to assist in the development of the measurement framework for the Equalities Review. The companion paper discusses the key challenges involved in translating capability theory into a practical measurement tool in the context of measuring inequality in Britain in the 21st century. This includes the definition of equality, a procedure for generating and revising a list of central and valuable capabilities, a measurement framework for monitoring trends in inequality, exploring the causes of inequality, and identifying possible policy interventions, and, finally, the types of information and analysis which are required. The current paper focuses in more detail on the need for a list of central and valuable capabilities in terms of which inequality in Britain can be conceptualised and appraised (a 'capability list'). The paper sets out a methodological framework for developing a capability list involving (1) derivation of a core capability list from the international human rights framework; (2) supplementation and refinement of the core list through democratic deliberation and debate. As part of the process of developing a capability list, the Equalities Review commissioned Ipsos-MORI to undertake a deliberative consultation on the development of a capability list with the general public and individuals and groups at risk of discrimination and disadvantage. The paper discusses the results of the deliberative consultation and recommends a capability list based on ten domains of central and valuable capabilities. |
| Keywords: | Capability approach, capability list, human rights |
| JEL: | I31 I32 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:/121&r=hap |
| By: | Gianluca Stefani (University of Firenze); Riccardo Scarpa (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | We report results from a laboratory experiment that allows us to test the incentive compatibility hypothesis of hypothetical referenda used in CV studies through the public or private provision of information messages. One of the main methodological issues about hypothetical markets regards whether people behave differently when bidding for a public good through casting a ballot vote than when they are privately purchasing an equivalent good. This study tried to address the core of this issue by using a good that can be traded both as private and public: information messages. This allows the elimination of confounding effects associated with the specific good employed. In our case information dispels some of the uncertainty about a potential gain from a gamble. So, the approximate value of the message can be inferred once the individual measure of risk aversion is known. Decision tasks are then framed in a systematic manner according to the hypothetical vs real nature of the decision and the public vs private nature of the message. A sample of 536 university students across three countries (I, UK and NZ) participated into this lab experiment. The chosen countries reflect diversity in exposure to the practice of advisory (NZ) and abrogative (Italy) referenda, with the UK not having any exposure to it. Under private provision the results show that the fraction of participants unwilling to buy information is slightly higher in the real treatment than in the hypothetical one. Under public provision, instead, there is no statistical difference between real and hypothetical settings, confirming in part the finding of previous researchers. A verbal protocol analysis of the thought processes during choice highlights that public provision of information systematically triggers concerns and motivations different from those arising under the private provision setting. These findings suggest that the incentive compatibility of public referenda is likely to rely more on affective and psychological factors than on the strategic behaviour assumptions theorised by economists. |
| Keywords: | Contingent Valuation ; Incentive Compatibility ; Experimental Economics; |
| JEL: | Q50 H40 C91 |
| Date: | 2007–06–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:07/10&r=hap |
| By: | Stephen Morris |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the extent to which mothers that care for children where the father is non-resident have an award or agreement for child support in place. Data from the Families and Children Study are used to explore not only whether mothers have an award or order but the type of award they have. Results show that mothers without awards are significantly disadvantaged. Moreover, awards were less commonplace where there were fewer children, where mothers claimed Income Support, were from an Asian background and where contact between the non-resident father and his children was infrequent. Private agreements, in contrast to a CSA award or no award, were more likely where mothers had recently separated, when there was frequent contact between the non-resident father and his children, and where children were younger; they were less common among those living in social housing. |
| Keywords: | child support, child support awards, non-resident fathers, parents with care |
| JEL: | I39 J12 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:/119&r=hap |
| By: | Strom Steinar (University of Turin); Shima Isilda (University of Turin); Bettio Francesca; Di Tommaso Maria Laura (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | The International Organization for Migration has collected data on traffìcked ìndividuals. The aim of this paper is to use the sub-sample of sexually exploited women in order to explore the relationship between their well being deprivation, their personal characteristics, and their working locations. We use the theoretical framework of the capability approach to conceptualize well being deprivation and we estimate a MIMIC (Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes) model. The utilized indìcators measure abuse, freedom of movement, and access to medical care. This model also allows us to estimate the effects of some covariates on this measure of well being. |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:200703&r=hap |
| By: | Karsten Hank; Isabella Buber (Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA)) |
| Abstract: | Introducing findings from the 2004 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), this research complements the large number of recent U.S. studies on the role of grandparents in caring for their grandchildren. For 10 continental European countries, we investigate cross-national variations in grandparent provided child care as well as differences in characteristics of the providers and recipients of care. While we find a strong involvement of grandparents in their grandchildren’s care across all countries, we also identify significant variations in the prevalence and intensity of care along the geographic lines of different child care and (maternal/female) employment regimes in Europe. Rooted in long-standing family cultures, the observed patterns suggest a complex interaction between welfare-state provided services and intergenerational family support in shaping the work-family nexus for younger parents. We conclude with a brief discussion of possible consequences of grandmothers’ increasing labor force participation for child care arrangements. |
| Date: | 2007–06–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mea:meawpa:07127&r=hap |
| By: | Huck-ju Kwon |
| Abstract: | This article attempts to explain changes and continuity in the developmental welfare states in Korea and Taiwan Province of China (hereafter Taiwan) within the East Asian context. It first elaborates two strands of welfare developmentalism (selective vs. inclusive), and establishes that the welfare state in those countries fell into the selective category of developmental welfare states before the Asian economic crisis of 1997. Secondly, this paper argues that the policy reform toward an inclusive welfare state in Korea and Taiwan was triggered by the need for structural reform in the economy. Lastly, this paper argues that the idea of an inclusive developmental welfare state should be explored in the wider context of economic and social development. |
| Keywords: | Developmental Welfare State, Social Policy, Korea, Taiwan, East Asia |
| JEL: | O10 I38 D78 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:une:wpaper:40&r=hap |