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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2021‒11‒01
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Schmidtke, Julia (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Hetschko, Clemens (University of Leeds); Schöb, Ronnie (FU Berlin); Stephan, Gesine (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany ; FAU); Eid, Michael (FU Berlin); Lawes, Mario (FU Berlin) |
| Abstract: | "Using individual monthly panel data from December 2018 to December 2020, we estimate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and two lockdowns on the mental health and subjective well-being of German workers. Employing an event-study design using individual-specific fixed effects, we find that the first and the second wave of the pandemic reduced workers’ mental health substantially. Momentary happiness and life satisfaction also decline in response to Covid-19, but to a smaller extent. We observe adaptation in our study outcomes between waves of the pandemic. This applies to a lesser extent to indicators of well-being in certain areas of life, such as satisfaction with the job and with leisure, which are negatively affected, too. Women do not seem to suffer greater well-being losses than men. However, workers in the German short-time work scheme are particularly negatively affected. Our results imply that increased anxiety about the future and restricted personal freedoms are among the drivers of the well-being impact of the pandemic." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | I19 I31 |
| Date: | 2021–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202113&r= |
| By: | Matthew Shannon |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the UK Household Longitudinal Study to explore the relationship between victimisation and several measures of subjective well-being. Using person fixed effects models, I find that being attacked or insulted both significantly reduce well-being at the mean, with no significant differences between men and women in the effect size. Next, using unconditional quantile regression with fixed effects models, I identify the highly heterogeneous effects of victimisation along the unconditional well-being distribution. The effect of victimisation on subjective wellbeing is monotonically decreasing, with those at ‘worse’ quantiles of the well-being distribution experiencing the largest falls in well-being, and those at the ‘better’ quantiles of the distribution experiencing the smallest falls. |
| Keywords: | Victimisation; Subjective well-being |
| JEL: | I31 J00 J17 C21 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:202123&r= |
| By: | Krähnert, Kati; Fluhrer, Svenja |
| JEL: | I30 D63 O13 O15 Q54 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc21:242379&r= |
| By: | Abel Brodeur (University of Ottawa [Ottawa], IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics); Andrew E. Clark (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics); Sarah Flèche (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - AMU - Aix Marseille Université); Nattavudh Powdthavee (University of Warwick [Coventry]) |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic has led many governments to implement lockdowns. While lockdowns may help to contain the spread of the virus, they may result in substantial damage to population well-being. We use Google Trends data to test whether the lockdowns implemented in Europe and America led to changes in well-being related topic search terms. Using differences-in-differences and a regression discontinuity design to evaluate the causal effects of lockdown, we find a substantial increase in the search intensity for boredom in Europe and the US. We also found a significant increase in searches for loneliness, worry and sadness, while searches for stress, suicide and divorce on the contrary fell. Our results suggest that people's mental health may have been severely affected by the lockdown. |
| Keywords: | Loneliness,Well-being,Lockdown,COVID-19,Boredom |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03029872&r= |
| By: | Laurie Bréban (PHARE - Philosophie, Histoire et Analyse des Représentations Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Date: | 2021–10–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03388970&r= |
| By: | Toman Barsbai; Victoria Licuanan; Andreas Steinmayr; Erwin Tiongson; Dean Yang |
| Abstract: | We study a randomly-assigned program providing information on U.S. settlement for new Filipino immigrants. The intervention, a 2.5-hour pre-departure training and an accompanying paper handbook, has no effect on employment, settlement, and subjective wellbeing, but leads immigrants to acquire substantially fewer social network connections. We rationalize these findings with a simple model, showing that information and social network links are substitutes under reasonable assumptions. Consistent with the model, the treatment reduces social network links more when costs of acquiring network links are lower. Offsetting reductions in the acquisition of social network connections can hence reduce the effectiveness of information interventions. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant integration, social networks, imperfect information, multiple hypothesis testing |
| JEL: | D83 F22 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2021-30&r= |