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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2015‒01‒14
fifteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Takuya Ishino (Faculty of Economics, Kanazawa Seiryo University); Akiko Kamesaka (School of Business Administration, Aoyama Gakuin University, and Economic and Social Research Institute, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan); Toshiya Murai (Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University); Masao Ogaki (Faculty of Economics, Kyoto University) |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:roc:rocher:588&r=hap |
| By: | Daniel Bahyl; Katarzyna Ptasinska; Daniel Roos |
| Keywords: | Multidimensional Development Indices, Sub-Saharan Africa, Wellbeing |
| JEL: | I32 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gri:epaper:economics:201407&r=hap |
| By: | Tiziana Laureti |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the relationship between subjective well-being and environmental conditions in Italy. Using a pseudo-panel approach, based on cohort data from the ISTAT multipurpose survey “Aspect of Daily Life” for the years 2010-2012, this paper aims at investigating the role of subjective and objective measures of environmental quality on life satisfaction by using fixed effects models taking into account regional heterogeneity and generational effects. A robust negative impact of air pollutions on self-reported life satisfaction is found. With respect to personal characteristics and control variables, the paper finds that the economic conditions and the perception of personal health status play important roles in explaining life satisfaction while car density, relative poverty risk and unemployment rates affect life satisfaction negatively. |
| Keywords: | Environmental quality, subjective well-being, pseudo-panel. |
| JEL: | C23 I31 Q53 |
| Date: | 2014–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2014/192&r=hap |
| By: | Petreski, Marjan; Petreski, Blagica |
| Abstract: | Macedonia has a large diaspora, high emigration rate and large amount of remittances received. The objective of this paper is to describe the current inclination to emigrate from Macedonia, in the light of the dissatisfaction with the domestic political and economic environment and the potential feeling of gender and ethnic inequalities. Particular reference is made to the role of remittances. The Remittances Survey 2008 is used, while dissatisfaction, feeling unequal and inclination to emigrate are treated as latent continuous variables in a MIMIC (Multiple-Indicator Multiple-Cause) model, observed only imperfectly in terms of respondents’ perceptions and opinions. Results robustly suggest that dissatisfaction with the societal conditions in Macedonia grows in the twenties and early thirties of people’s life and is more prevalent among ethnic Albanians. Albanians also demonstrate stronger feeling of gender and ethnic inequality. Dissatisfaction, but not the feeling on inequality, then feeds inclination to emigrate. Further to this, however, males and less educated persons are more inclined to emigrate, irrespective of their level of dissatisfaction. Remittances were found to play a strong role for the inclination to emigrate: inclination is larger in households receiving remittances and increases with the amount received, as it is likely that remittances alleviate financial constraints for other persons of the household to emigrate. |
| Keywords: | dissatisfaction, feeling unequal, migration, remittances, MIMIC |
| JEL: | F22 F24 |
| Date: | 2015–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61047&r=hap |
| By: | Koen Decancq; Dirk Neumann |
| Abstract: | We discuss and compare fiÂ…ve measures of individual well-being, namely income, an objective composite well-being index, a measure of subjective well-being, equivalent income, and a well-being measure based on the von Neumann-Morgenstern utilities of the individuals. After examining the information requirements of these measures, we illustrate their implementation using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for 2010. We fiÂ…nd sizeable differences in the characteristics of the individuals identiÂ…ed as worst of according to the different well-being measures. Less than 1% of the individuals belong to the bottom decile according to all Â…five measures. Moreover, the measures lead to considerably different well-being rankings of the individuals. These Â…findings highlight the importance of the choice of well-being measure for policy making. |
| Keywords: | Income, composite well-being index, life satisfaction, equivalent income, von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function, worst off, Germany |
| JEL: | D31 D63 I30 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp717&r=hap |
| By: | Steffen Otterbach; Alfonso Sousa-Poza |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use 12 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel to examine the relationship between job insecurity, employability and health-related well-being. Our results indicate that being unemployed has a strong negative effect on life satisfaction and health. They also, however, highlight the fact that this effect is most prominent among individuals over the age of 40. A second observation is that job insecurity is also associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and health, and this association is quite strong. This negative effect of job insecurity is, in many cases, exacerbated by poor employability. |
| Keywords: | Job insecurity, employment, employability, well-being, health, Germany |
| JEL: | J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp720&r=hap |
| By: | Jan Kleibrink |
| Abstract: | In an empirical study based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, the effect of job quality on individual health is analyzed. Extending previous studies methodologically to estimate unbiased effects of job satisfaction on individual health, it can be shown that low job satisfaction affects individual health negatively. In a second step, the underlying forces of this broad effect are disentangled. The analysis shows that the effects of job satisfaction on health run over the channels of job security and working hours above the individual limit. Job quality not only has a strong impact on mental health but physical health is affected as well. At the same time, health-damaging behavior including smoking and being overweight is not affected. |
| Keywords: | Individual Health; Job Satisfaction |
| JEL: | I14 J24 J28 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp718&r=hap |
| By: | Graham, Carol Lee (Brookings Institution); Nikolova, Milena (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Life evaluations and emotional states are distinct subjective well-being (SWB) components. We explore the relationship between opportunities and SWB dimensions, distinguishing between actual capabilities and means (education, employment, and income) and perceived opportunities (autonomy and health perceptions and belief in hard work). We find a link between capabilities and SWB (particularly, life evaluations), which varies across world regions. Capabilities can also be associated with stress and anger and seem to matter the least for the happiest respondents. We also explore the determinants of the least studied well-being dimension: eudaimonia, or life purpose, which is an underlying objective of the development process. |
| Keywords: | well-being, capabilities, freedoms, variance decompositions |
| JEL: | I31 I39 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8722&r=hap |
| By: | Nyantara Wickramasekera (Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds); Sandy Tubeuf (Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds); Thomas Veale (Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds); Judy Wright (Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds); Helen Elsey (Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds); Jenni Murray (Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds) |
| Abstract: | Background: Care farms are increasingly commissioned by public sector and health sector organizations to provide support to vulnerable people. It is a complex intervention that provides farming activities for therapeutic purposes. The evidence base assessing the effectiveness of care farms is relatively recent and to date no systematic review has been conducted to assess the impact of care farms using health-related-quality-of-life measures. Aim: This systematic review aims to identify any existing literature evaluating the impact of care farms and green care interventions in adult populations, with a specific focus on health-relatedquality- of-life measures that could be used for a cost-effectiveness or cost-utility analysis. Methods: 19 general health and social science databases were searched systematically in November 2013. Care farm and green care interventions, for adults measuring HRQOL outcome were included and assessed for methodological quality using the Cochrane’s six item risk of bias checklist. Results: Five studies with four hundred and eighty-four participants were included in this review. Two studies favoured the interventions, whereas three studies did not find strong evidence that the intervention had an effect on participants’ health-related-quality-of-life at post-intervention follow-up. These results indicated that care farms and green care may benefit certain populations such as breast and lung cancer patients, the elderly, and people with affective disorders. Conclusions: Given the small number of available studies and their methodological limitations we cannot make unequivocal conclusions about the impact of care farms on health-relatedquality- of-life. With this caveat, some evidence suggests that care farms and green care interventions can improve quality of life for some participants. However, this review highlights the need to conduct more high quality trials with larger sample sizes and longer term follow-up. |
| Keywords: | health-related quality-of-life, care farms, green care, cost-effectiveness, cost-utility |
| JEL: | I31 I38 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lee:wpaper:1410&r=hap |
| By: | Shawn Grover; John F. Helliwell |
| Abstract: | Subjective well-being research has often found that marriage is positively correlated with well-being. Some have argued that this correlation may be result of happier people being more likely to marry. Others have presented evidence suggesting that the well-being benefits of marriage are short-lasting. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, we control individual pre-marital well-being levels and find that the married are still more satisfied, suggesting a causal effect, even after full allowance is made for selection effects. Using new data from the United Kingdom's Annual Population Survey, we find that the married have a less deep U-shape in life satisfaction across age groups than do the unmarried, indicating that marriage may help ease the causes of the mid-life dip in life satisfaction and that the benefits of marriage are unlikely to be short-lived. We explore friendship as a mechanism which could help explain a causal relationship between marriage and life satisfaction, and find that well-being effects of marriage are about twice as large for those whose spouse is also their best friend. Finally, we use the Gallup World Poll to show that although the overall well-being effects of marriage appear to vary across cultural contexts, marriage eases the middle-age dip in life evaluations for all regions except Sub-Saharan Africa. |
| JEL: | I31 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20794&r=hap |
| By: | Anna S. Gogoleva (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Pavel S. Sorokin (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Azer G. Efendiev (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The main goal of the present paper is to conduct theoretical and methodological analysis of the current state of the art in the field of QWL studies and to outline perspectives for the future research of the QWL in managerial and organizational research. 716 publications listed in the Web of Science utilizing the QWL concept were selected at the initial stage and 420 papers were included in the final set of publications for analysis. The literature examination revealed the absence of the clear and concrete definition of QWL, various (and often incomplete) approaches to QWL content and indicators, interference of QWL with other concepts like job satisfaction which all resulted in general confusion in academic discussions about the notion. We argue that it is necessary to elaborate a new model for QWL assessment which would combine subjective and objective measures in the context of the general framework of needs satisfaction approach. We hope to contribute to the current discussions by suggesting our own version of classification of employee needs in the QWL framework elaborated basing on previous research by other authors. |
| Keywords: | quality of work life, methodology, indicators, theory, organizational studies, managerial studies |
| JEL: | Z10 Z13 O18 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:23man2014&r=hap |
| By: | SEKIZAWA Yoichi; YOSHITAKE Naomi |
| Abstract: | Objective: Seligman, Steen, Park, and Peterson (2005) reported that people who wrote down three good things (TGT) for a week exhibited significantly greater happiness and less depression. An online study was conducted to examine whether performing a similar exercise reduces depressive symptoms and increases positive affect (PA) in the Japanese population.<br />Methods: One thousand Japanese adults were randomly assigned to the TGT group or the control group. Participants in the TGT group were instructed to perform the TGT exercise at least twice a week for four weeks, whereas participants in the control group were told to record three past events.<br />Results: An increase in PA was observed in the TGT group at the post-test, but not at the one-month follow-up. There were no significant changes in depressive symptoms at the post-test or the one-month follow up in either group. Participants in the TGT group exhibited a significant increase in general trust at both the post-test and the one-month follow-up. A significant increase in this variable at the one-month follow-up was also observed in control participants.<br />Conclusion: Performing the TGT exercise increases PA, but this increase is temporary. The TGT exercise may be effective in enhancing general trust. |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:15001&r=hap |
| By: | Zhiming Cheng; Stephen P. King; Russell Smyth; Haining Wang |
| Abstract: | This study explores the relationship between home ownership and subjective wellbeing in urban China. We first present a theoretical model examining the relationship between housing property rights and subjective wellbeing in China. We then test the predictions of the theoretical model using a nationally representative dataset. We find that not only home ownership, but the property rights one acquires and the source of those property rights matters for subjective wellbeing. Moreover, not only whether one has a home loan, but the type of home loan one has matters for subjective wellbeing. |
| Keywords: | Subjective wellbeing, housing property rights, China |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2014-44&r=hap |
| By: | Vinod Mishra; Ingrid Nielsen; Russell Smyth; Alex Newman |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a novel identification strategy proposed by Lewbel (2012, J. Bus. Econ. Stat.) to illustrate how causation between job satisfaction and life satisfaction can be established with cross-sectional data. In addition to examining the relationship between composite job satisfaction and life satisfaction, we consider the relationship between life satisfaction and different facets of job satisfaction. We find evidence of bidirectional causality between job satisfaction and life satisfaction and mixed evidence of causation between life satisfaction and different facets of job satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | Job satisfaction, life satisfaction, causality. |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2014-26&r=hap |
| By: | Robert G. Wood; Quinn Moore; Andrew Clarkwest; Alexandra Killewald |
| Abstract: | Presents final findings from a large-scale, random assignment evaluation of Building Strong Families (BSF), a program offering relationship skills education to low-income, unmarried parents who are expecting or recently had a baby. The study found that BSF did not succeed in its central objectives of improving couples' relationships, increasing coparenting quality, or enhancing father involvement. In fact, the program had modest negative effects on some of these outcomes. Although attendance at group sessions was relatively low, there is little evidence of program effects even among couples who attended sessions regularly. |
| Keywords: | Child Well-Being Coparenting, Fatherhood Low-Income Families Marriage Education, Relationship Education |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2014–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:3ce2a1ad000e4df09fb94b43466396b0&r=hap |