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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2013‒10‒05
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Takahiro Akita (International University of University); Sachiko Miyata (Rikkyo University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the roles of location (rural and urban sectors) and education in the distribution of economic well-being in Indonesia by employing the hierarchical and non-hierarchical decomposition methods of the Theil indices. This is done by using household expenditure data from the national socio-economic survey (Susenas) in 2008. It shows that there are large expenditure disparities across education levels but that these are more pronounced in the urban sector than the rural sector. When there are differences in educational structure between the rural and urban sectors, the hierarchical decomposition method appears to offer a better approach than the non-hierarchical method. |
| Keywords: | Inequality; Hierarchical and non-hierarchical decompositions; Theil indices; Urban and rural locations; Education; Indonesia |
| JEL: | O15 O18 R12 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2013_15&r=hap |
| By: | Guzi, Martin (Masaryk University); de Pedraza, Pablo (Universidad de Salamanca) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes use of a large sample of individual data obtained from web surveys in the WageIndicator project. Data includes extensive information on the quality of working conditions together with different well-being indicators. The paper emphasizes the role of work-related characteristics as a specific and very important aspect of life. In our analysis, we demonstrate the role of working conditions in the following three domains: overall life-satisfaction; satisfaction with one’s job; and satisfaction with the combination of family and work. The paper also contributes to the ongoing debate on web survey data quality, reliability, and validity for scientific use. It demonstrates how social sciences can benefit from the use of web survey data in order to overcome the limits of traditional information sources. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being, web-surveys, working conditions |
| JEL: | J28 J81 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7618&r=hap |
| By: | Layard, Richard (London School of Economics); Chisholm, Dan (World Health Organization); Patel, Vikram (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine); Saxena, Shekhar (World Health Organization) |
| Abstract: | This paper is a contribution to the second World Happiness Report. It makes five main points. 1. Mental health is the biggest single predictor of life-satisfaction. This is so in the UK, Germany and Australia even if mental health is included with a six-year lag. It explains more of the variance of life-satisfaction in the population of a country than physical health does, and much more than unemployment and income do. Income explains 1% of the variance of life-satisfaction or less. 2. Much the most common forms of mental illness are depression and anxiety disorders. Rigorously defined, these affect about 10% of all the world’s population – and prevalence is similar in rich and poor countries. 3. Depression and anxiety are more common during working age than in later life. They account for a high proportion of disability and impose major economic costs and financial losses to governments worldwide. 4. Yet even in rich countries, under a third of people with diagnosable mental illness are in treatment. 5. Cost-effective treatments exist, with recovery rates of 50% or more. In rich countries treatment is likely to have no net cost to the Exchequer due to savings on welfare benefits and lost taxes. But even in poor countries a reasonable level of coverage could be obtained at a cost of under $2 per head of population per year. |
| Keywords: | mental illness, welfare benefits, healthcare costs, life-satisfaction |
| JEL: | I10 I14 I18 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7620&r=hap |
| By: | Aysýt Tansel (Middle East Technical University, Turkey); Þaziye Gazioðlu (Middle East Technical University, Turkey) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the job satisfaction in relation to managerial attitudes towards employees and firm size using the linked employer-employee survey results in Britain.We first investigate the managementemployee relationships and the firm size using maximum likelihood probit estimation . Next various measues of job satisfaction are related to the management-employee relations via maximum likelihood ordered probit estimates. Four measures of job satisfaction that have not been used often are considered. They are satisfaction with influence over job; satisfaction with amount of pay; satisfaction with sense of achievement and satisfaction with respect from supervisors. Main findings indicate that managementemployee relationships are less satisfactory in the large firms than in the small firms. Job satisfaction levels are lower in large firms. Less satisfactory management-employee relationships in the large firms may be a major source of the observed lower level of job satisfaction in them. These results have important policy implications from the point of view of the firm management while achieving the aims of their organizations in particular in the large firms in the area of management-employee relationships. Improving the management-employee relations in large firms will increase employee satisfaction in many respects as well as increase productivity and reduce turnover. The nature of the management-employee relations with firm size and job satisfaction has not been investigated before. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tek:wpaper:2013/5&r=hap |