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on Economics of Happiness |
|
Issue of 2012‒12‒10
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Bodo Knoll; Hans Pitlik (WIFO); Martin Rode |
| Abstract: | Are people happier if they experience freedom from regulation, and how do individual attitudes towards liberalisation influence personal life satisfaction? Based on data from European and World Values Surveys and the Economic Freedom of the World project we find evidence for positive effects of low regulation and pro-market attitudes on life satisfaction. Paradoxically, people who are opposed to market oriented policies sometimes benefit most from deregulation. |
| Keywords: | government, regulation, life satisfaction, attitudes, ideology |
| Date: | 2012–11–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2012:i:441&r=hap |
| By: | Tilman Brück; Damir Esenaliev; Antje Kroeger; Alma Kudebayeva; Bakhrom Mirkasimov; Susan Steiner |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes the micro-level survey evidence from Central Asia generated and analyzed between 1991 and 2012. We provide an exhaustive overview over all accessible individual and household-level surveys undertaken in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - and of all English-language academic papers published using these datasets. We argue that Central Asia is a fascinating region for the study of comparative economics given its dual experience of transition and development. However, the region is also understudied, in part due to lack of data, and especially due to a lack of panel data. We identify knowledge gaps caused from this lack of longitudinal surveys and suggest worthwhile areas for future research. Finally, we also present the new and novel individual-level panel dataset called "Life in Kyrgyzstan". |
| Keywords: | Survey data, poverty, labor force participation, Central Asia |
| JEL: | O12 I32 J22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1257&r=hap |
| By: | Switek, Malgorzata (University of Southern California) |
| Abstract: | Migration typically leads to higher income, but its association with life satisfaction remains unclear. Is migration accompanied by an increase in life satisfaction? If it is, is the increase in income responsible or are other life domains driving the satisfaction changes? These two questions are addressed using longitudinal data from a Swedish Young Adult Panel Study for 1999 and 2009. Comparing migrants to non-migrants, it is found that internal migration is accompanied by an increase in life satisfaction. This increase is observed for both, migrants who move due to work and those who move due to non-work reasons. This finding holds regardless of other life transitions that may accompany migration, such as marriage and joining the labor market. However, different factors account for the increase in life satisfaction for work and non-work migrants. For non-work migrants, it is greater housing satisfaction that leads to an improvement in life satisfaction. Moreover, no increase in income relative to non-migrants is found for this group. For work migrants, although their income increases compared with non-migrants, this increase does not seem to explain the differential improvement in life satisfaction because of a lack of improvement in their economic satisfaction (compared to non-migrants). Rather, it is the higher relative status arising from occupational advancement that seems to contribute to the higher life satisfaction for work migrants. |
| Keywords: | internal migration, life satisfaction, relative status, housing satisfaction |
| JEL: | J0 J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7016&r=hap |