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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2009‒05‒09
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Buhai, Sebastian (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Cottini, Elena (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Westergaard-Nielsen, Niels (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of work environment health and safety practice on …rm performance, and examines which …rm-characteristic factors are associated with good work conditions. We use Danish longitudinal register matched employer-employee data, merged with …rm business accounts and detailed cross-sectional survey data on workplace conditions. This enables us to address typical econometric problems such as omitted variables bias or endogeneity in estimating i) standard production functions augmented with work environment indicators and aggregate employee characteristics and ii) …rm mean wage regressions on the same explanatory variables. Our …ndings suggest that improvement in some of the physical dimensions of the work health and safety environment (speci…cally, "internal climate" and "repetitive and strenuous activ- ity") strongly impacts the …rm productivity, whereas "internal climate" problems are the only workplace hazards compensated for by higher mean wages. |
| Keywords: | Occupational health and safety; Work environment; Production function estimation; Firm performance; Compensating wage differentials |
| JEL: | J28 J31 L23 |
| Date: | 2008–06–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_013&r=hap |
| By: | Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich |
| Abstract: | Using a simple production function approach I show that conventional factors and forces of production, national identity, and globalization are important to national well-being, but in varying ways. Whereas investment in capital and globalization, especially social globalization, affect national well-being strongly, national well-being is inelastic to all three measures of national identity. A reasonable conclusion is that nations gain more from interactions with other nations than from national isolation. |
| Keywords: | National identity; national colors; globalization; well-being of nations; human development index (HDI); national flag colors |
| JEL: | O11 D31 O43 Z00 O57 F43 |
| Date: | 2009–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14948&r=hap |
| By: | Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to explore how social capital is related to self-rated health status in Japan and how this relationship depends on the extent to which a person is embedded into community. The study used data from 3 079 adult participants in the 2000 Social Policy and Social Consciousness (SPSC) survey. Controlling for unobserved city size- and area-specific fixed effects, I find through Ordered Probit estimation that social capital has a significantly positive effect on health status for long-time but not for short-time residents. Results also suggested that the experience of divorce is negatively associated with health status for long- time but not short-time residents. People can enjoy a social network that can be regarded as a kind of social capital if they are a member of a network; nevertheless, people appear to be negatively influenced if they are excluded from a network. Such positive and negative effects of social capital are more obvious when people are more deeply integrated into a community. An empirical study provided evidence that social capital and socio-economic effects on health status are significantly influenced by the extent to which respondents are integrated into a community. |
| Keywords: | social capital; health status |
| JEL: | I19 Z13 |
| Date: | 2009–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14983&r=hap |