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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2020‒02‒10
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Karine Torosyan (International School of Economics at TSU); Norberto Pignatti (International School of Economics - Tbilisi) |
| Abstract: | Modern women often face an uneasy choice: dedicating their time to reproductive household work, or joining the workforce and spending time away from home and household duties. Both choices are associated with benefits, as well as non-trivial costs, and necessarily involve some trade-offs, influencing the general feeling of happiness women experience given their decision. The trade-offs are especially pronounced in traditional developing countries, where both the pressure for women to stay at home and the need to earn additional income are strong, making the choice even more controversial. To understand the implications of this choice on the happiness of women in these types of countries we compare housewives and working women of the South Caucasus region. The rich data collected annually by the Caucasus Research Resource Center allows us to match working women with their housewife counterparts and to compare the level of happiness across the two groups – separately for each country as well as for Armenian and Azerbaijani minorities residing in Georgia. We find a significant negative happiness gap for working women in Armenia and in Azerbaijan, but not in Georgia. The absence of such a gap among the Armenian and Azerbaijani minorities of Georgia indicates that the gap is mostly a country- rather than an ethnicity-specific effect. |
| Keywords: | female employment, reproductive housework, life satisfaction, happiness, propensity score matching |
| JEL: | I31 J16 J21 J24 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2020-007&r=all |
| By: | Marc Fleurbaey (Princeton University); Grégory Ponthière (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12) |
| Abstract: | We study the measurement of well-being when individuals have hetero- geneous preferences, including di_erent conceptions of a life worth living. When individuals di_er in the conception of a life worth living, the equivalent income can regard an individual whose life is not worth living as being better o_ than an individual whose life is worth living. In order to avoid that paradoxical result, we reexamine the ethical foundations of well-being measures in such a way as to take into account heterogeneity in the conception of a life worth living. We derive, from simple axioms, an alternative measure of well-being, which is an equivalent income net of the income threshold making lifetime neutral. That new well-being index always ranks an individual whose life is not worth living as worse-o_ than an individual with a life worth living. |
| Keywords: | Well-being,measurement,equivalent income,lifetime,value of life |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02393398&r=all |
| By: | Lous, Bjorn (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management) |
| Abstract: | Even though on average Western countries are richer than ever before, an undercurrent of widespread discomfort and uncertainty has been revealed in recent years. This has led to renewed critical interest in the foundations and assumptions of the capitalist economic model. This thesis focuses on the role of inequality in the functioning of the economy. Specifically, three relationships are investigated. The first empirical chapter sets the general context, looking at the effect of economic freedom on (country-level) life satisfaction through income inequality. The second research chapter analyzes the effect of income inequality on trust and inequality in life satisfaction. The third and fourth chapters zoom in on the microeconomic level, discussing how national income inequality relates to individual life satisfaction, and to individual inclination to trust other people. In addition, the differences between different income groups are investigated, as well as between other socio-demographically defined groups. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiutis:e2480eed-722b-4e2a-8e29-4d3bec721ea2&r=all |
| By: | Niklas Scheuer (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) |
| Abstract: | We develop a theoretical model that jointly explains optimal choices and happiness. We work with constant elasticity of substitution functions for utility and happiness. Employing a choice framework, individuals are confronted with two options. When there exists a trade-off, we determine parametric conditions for which individual happiness and utility coincide as well as oppose each other. Comparing the empirical evidence of Benjamin et al. (2012), our model can explain three out of four possible happiness-utility combinations. Regarding how individuals actually decide, our findings suggest that this is partly random. This explanation accounts for the remaining 11.2 % of individuals. |
| Keywords: | Consumer Economics, Theory, General Welfare, Well-Being, Micro-Based Behavioral Economics |
| JEL: | D11 D91 I31 |
| Date: | 2020–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:2002&r=all |
| By: | Carine Viac (OECD); Pablo Fraser (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Modern education systems evolve in a context of growing teacher shortages, frequent turnover and a low attractiveness of the profession. In such a context where these challenges interrelate, there is an urgent need to better understand the well-being of teachers and its implications on the teaching and learning nexus. This is the ambition of the OECD Teacher Well-being and Quality Teaching Project. This working paper is an integral part in the development of this project as it proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework to analyse teachers’ occupational well-being and its linkages with quality teaching. The core concept of this framework defines teachers’ well-being around four key components: physical and mental well-being, cognitive well-being, subjective well-being and social well-being. The framework then explores how working conditions, at both system and school levels, can impact and shape teachers’ well-being, both positively and negatively aspects. It also presents two types of expected outcomes regarding teachers’ well-being: inward outcomes for teachers in terms of levels of stress and intentions to leave the profession; and outward outcomes on quality teaching in terms of classroom processes and student’ well-being. In an annex, the paper proposes an analytical plan on how to analyse teachers’ well-being indicators and cross the results with other OECD instruments. It also presents the field trial items of the new module on teachers’ well-being which are included in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2021 teacher questionnaire. |
| Date: | 2020–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:213-en&r=all |
| By: | Matteo Bonato (Department of Economics and Econometrics, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa and IPAG Business School, 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006 Paris, France); Konstantinos Gkillas (Department of Business Administration, University of Patras – University Campus, Rio, P.O. Box 1391, 26500 Patras, Greece); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa); Christian Pierdzioch (Department of Economics, Helmut Schmidt University, Holstenhofweg 85, P.O.B. 700822, 22008 Hamburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We apply the heterogeneous autoregressive realized volatility (HAR-RV) model to examine the importance of investor happiness in predicting the daily realized volatility of gold returns. We estimate daily realized volatility by employing intraday data providing both in-sample and out-of sample predictions. Our in-sample results reveal that realized volatility is negatively linked to investor happiness. Moreover, our out-of-sample results show that extending the HAR-RV model to include investor happiness significantly improves the accuracy of forecasts of realized volatility at short- and medium-run forecast horizons. |
| Keywords: | Investor Happiness, Gold, Realized Volatility, Forecasting |
| JEL: | G15 G17 Q02 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:202004&r=all |
| By: | Matteo Bonato (Department of Economics and Econometrics, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa and IPAG Business School, 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006 Paris, France); Konstantinos Gkillas (Department of Business Administration, University of Patras – University Campus, Rio, P.O. Box 1391, 26500 Patras, Greece); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa); Christian Pierdzioch (Department of Economics, Helmut Schmidt University, Holstenhofweg 85, P.O.B. 700822, 22008 Hamburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We use the heterogeneous autoregressive realized volatility (HAR-RV) model to analyze both in sample and out-of-sample whether a measure of investor happiness predicts the daily realized volatility of oil-price returns, where we use high-frequency intradaily data to measure realized volatility. Full-sample estimates reveal that realized volatility is significantly negatively linked to investor happiness at a short forecast horizon. Similarly, out-of-sample results indicate that investor happiness significantly improves accuracy of forecasts of realized volatility at a short forecast horizon. Results for a medium and a long forecast horizon are insignificant. We argue that our results shed light on the role played by speculation in oil products and the potential function of oil-related products as a hedge against risks in traditional financial assets. |
| Keywords: | Investor Happiness, Oil market, Realized Volatility, Forecasting |
| JEL: | G15 G17 Q02 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:202009&r=all |