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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2014‒08‒20
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Asian Development Bank (ADB); (Regional and Sustainable Development Department, ADB); In-Ho Keum; |
| Abstract: | Climate change will increase the frequency of extreme weather events, making more geographic places inhospitable to human habitation and secure livelihoods. This report presents a detailed picture of the potential impacts of climate change on migration in Asia and the Pacific. It draws upon a wealth of research to provide policy makers with informed analysis of an emerging phenomenon requiring urgent attention by governments and the international community. The report also suggests that climate-induced migration should be seen not only as a threat to human well-being but also as a potential tool to promote human adaptation to climate change. |
| Keywords: | adb, asian development bank, asdb, asia, pacific, poverty asia, water, water supply, sanitation, water supply and sanitation, water resources, water sector |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:asd:wpaper:bkk114083&r=hap |
| By: | Lundberg, Shelly (University of California, Santa Barbara) |
| Abstract: | The prevalence and stability of marriage has declined in the United States as the economic lives of men and women have converged. Family change has not been uniform, however, and the widening gaps in marital status, relationship stability, and childbearing between socioeconomic groups raise concerns about child wellbeing in poor families and future inequality. This paper uses data from a recent cohort of young adults – Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health – to investigate whether disparities in cognitive ability and non-cognitive skills contribute to this gap. Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions of differences in key family outcomes across education groups show that, though individual non-cognitive traits are significantly associated with union status, relationship instability and single motherhood, they collectively make no significant contribution to the explanation of educational gaps for almost all of these outcomes. Measured skills can explain as much as 25 percent of differences in these outcomes by family background (measured by mother's education), but this effect disappears when own education is added to the model. Both cognitive and non-cognitive skills are strongly predictive of education attainment but, conditional on education, explain very little of the socioeconomic gaps in family outcomes for young adults. |
| Keywords: | cognitive ability, non-cognitive skills, family, marriage, inequality |
| JEL: | I24 J12 J24 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8346&r=hap |
| By: | Bonke, Jens (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit); Schultz-Nielsen, Marie Louise (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | Various European studies show that the majority of those employed wish to work fewer hours than they actually do. The question addressed here is whether imbalanced working hours – working hour tensions – influence changes in behavior: do preferences transmit into reality? Based on a Danish longitudinal time-use study, we find that more Danes prefer shorter working hours over longer working hours, which is in contrast to the Americans. Moreover, not only do the vast majority of overworked Danes adjust their working hours, those who are underworked also do so within a decade. Factors behind these changes are analyzed and means to ensure an optimization of time- and money-related wellbeing are discussed. |
| Keywords: | labor supply, working hours |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8356&r=hap |
| By: | Haile, Getinet Astatike (University of Nottingham); Bryson, Alex (National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)); White, Michael (Policy Studies Institute) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates whether unionisation has a spillover effect on wellbeing by comparing non-members in union and non-union workplaces. To this end, it adapts the social custom model of trade unions and goes on to conduct empirical analyses using linked employer-employee data and alternative empirical strategies. The findings in the paper reveal that unionisation does have a spillover effect lowering non-members' job satisfaction. Sub-group analysis based on workplace-level collective bargaining status uncovers that the adverse effect found is specific to establishments that set pay through collective bargaining. |
| Keywords: | trade union, spillover effect, wellbeing, linked employer-employee data, Britain |
| JEL: | J5 J51 J28 J82 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8361&r=hap |
| By: | Dominic Richardson; Nabil Ali |
| Abstract: | This report evaluates sources of international child well-being data to assess their suitability for supplementing national and transnational data sources to inform policy. The review of the leading surveys of children (and surveys of households with children) summarises the information available from these sources and, as importantly, identifies the gaps in measuring child well-being outcomes not covered by data from these sources. The report then undertakes an in-depth evaluation of possible systematic bias in the underlying survey population to provide confidence in the reliability of outcomes measured from these international surveys. Based on the overall evaluation, the report concludes with recommendations for the use and improvement of international surveys for monitoring child well-being. Ce rapport est une évaluation des sources de données internationales sur le bien-être des enfants. Il a pour objet de voir dans quelle mesure ces sources peuvent être utilisées en complément des sources nationales et transnationales pour éclairer les politiques publiques. Il commence par examiner les principales enquêtes sur les enfants (ainsi que sur les ménages avec enfants) afin d’inventorier les données qu’elles contiennent et surtout, de recenser les éléments du bien-être des enfants qui ne sont pas couverts par ces sources. Vient ensuite une évaluation approfondie des éventuels biais systématiques de la population observée dans ces enquêtes, ce qui permet d’évaluer la fiabilité des éléments mesurés dans ces études internationales. En conclusion, le rapport donne des recommandations, établies en fonction de l’évaluation globale, pour l’utilisation et l’amélioration des études internationales utilisées dans le cadre du suivi du bien-être des enfants. |
| Keywords: | child well-being, child well-being data and indicators, child well-being surveys |
| JEL: | C83 J13 |
| Date: | 2014–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:146-en&r=hap |
| By: | Nanivazo, Malokele |
| Abstract: | This paper performs a multidimensional first order dominance (FOD) analysis of child wellbeing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This methodology allows the ordinal ranking of the 11 provinces of the DRC in terms of their wellbeing based upon the |
| Keywords: | welfare, first order dominance, Democratic Republic of Congo, multidimensional poverty |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2014-025&r=hap |