nep-hap 2016-07-23 papers

on Economics of Happiness

Issue of 2016‒07‒23
two papers chosen by

An asset-based indicator of well-being for a unified means testing tool: money metric of countring approach? By MENON Martina; PERALI Federico; SIERMINSKA Eva
Multidimensional Well-being and Regional Disparities in Europe By Döpke, Jörg; Knabe, Andreas; Lang, Cornelia; Maschke, Philip

An asset-based indicator of well-being for a unified means testing tool: money metric of countring approach?

By:	MENON Martina; PERALI Federico; SIERMINSKA Eva
Abstract:	As part of the Europe 2020 strategy, European member states have committed to modernize and harmonize their welfare systems and to improve the quality of the means testing tools adopted to correctly identify the beneficiaries of welfare policies. This study contributes to the literature on means testing by implementing and then comparing two alternative multidimensional targeting approaches: an asset-based money metric and a counting measurement of poverty. The two approaches aggregate poverty dimensions and implement inter-household comparisons of wellbeing differently. The study shows that in terms of targeting efficiency the approach based on the money metric is superior. The comparison is relevant both from an empirical and a policy point of view because a unified means testing tool would pave the road towards harmonized welfare policies across European countries.
Keywords:	means testing; multidimensional poverty; asset based poverty; well-being
JEL:	D13 H31 I32 O15
Date:	2016–07
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2016-09&r=hap

Multidimensional Well-being and Regional Disparities in Europe

By:	Döpke, Jörg; Knabe, Andreas; Lang, Cornelia; Maschke, Philip
Abstract:	Using data from the OECD Regional Well-Being Index - a set of quality-of-life indicators measured at the sub-national level, we construct a set of composite well-being indices. We analyse the extent to which the choice of five alternative aggregation methods affects the well-being ranking of regions. We find that regional inequality in these composite measures is lower than regional inequality in gross-domestic product (GDP) per capita. For most aggregation methods, the rank correlation across regions appears to be quite high. It is also shown that using alternative indicators instead of GDP per capita would only have a small effect on the set of regions eligible for aid from EU Structural Funds. The exception appears to be an aggregation based on how individual dimensions of welfare relate to average life satisfaction across regions, which would substantially change both the ranking of regions and which regions would receive EU funds.
Keywords:	well-being,regional economic policy,EU structural funds,composite index
JEL:	C31 I31 R10
Date:	2016
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:iwh-13-16&r=hap

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