nep-hap New Economics Papers
on Economics of Happiness
Issue of 2022‒06‒13
six papers chosen by



  1. Subjective Well-Being: Happiness and Life Satisfaction in India and South Africa By Borooah, Vani
  2. Housing Unaffordability and Adolescent Subjective Well-Being in China By Nie, Peng; Li, Qiaoge; Sousa-Poza, Alfonso
  3. The Full Returns to the Choice of Occupation and Education By Clark, Andrew E.; Cotofan, Maria; Layard, Richard
  4. Happy to help: NHS volunteering in Covid-19 times By Christian Krekel
  5. The Full Returns to the Choice of Occupation and Education By Clark, Andrew E.; Cotofan, Maria; Layard, Richard
  6. Soft skills and well-being at work: Essay of a theoretical frameworkin By Chaymaa Ourrache; Dounia Rabhi

  1. By: Borooah, Vani
    Abstract: The first purpose of this chapter is to test differences between dominant and subordinate groups in India and South Africa. For India, the comparison is between caste groups: the dominant “forward castes” and the subordinate “non- forward castes”. For South Africa, the comparison is between racial groups: Whites as a dominant group and non-Whites (Blacks, Coloured, and Asians) as a subordinate group. The second purpose of this chapter is compare happiness levels between India and South Africa with a view to rigorously establishing where happiness is greatest and what its drivers are. These issues are examined using data from the World Values Survey (WVS), covering in excess of 250,000 respondents, drawn from 90 countries, and available for the period 1994-2014 - remains the most widely accessible database on well-being. This chapter establishes that, in general, Indians were happier than South Africans meaning that the predicted probability of being happy was, on average, higher in India (84.2%) than in South Africa (81.1%). Another important finding was that persons from the dominant groups were more likely to be happy in South Africa than in India but that persons from the subordinate groups were more likely to be happy in India than in South Africa.
    Keywords: Happiness; Life Satisfaction; India; South Africa
    JEL: I31 I38
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112985&r=
  2. By: Nie, Peng (Xi’an Jiaotong University); Li, Qiaoge (Xi’an Jiaotong University); Sousa-Poza, Alfonso (University of Hohenheim)
    Abstract: Using the 2010-2018 waves of the China Family Panel Studies, we investigate the impact of housing unaffordability on subjective well-being (SWB) among Chinese adolescents aged 10-15. Using a combined methodology of propensity score matching and fixed effects and instrumental variable estimations, we show that housing unaffordability leads to higher levels of depression, with more pronounced impacts among older adolescents (aged 13-15), those from migrant and urban families, and those living in regions with high housing prices and expensive living costs. These results are robust not only to alternative housing unaffordability and SWB measures but to a series of estimation approaches that control for endogeneity. An additional structural equation modelling analysis of underlying pathways further reveals that this housing unaffordability-SWB relation is mediated by paternal depression and (lower) adolescent trust in parents.
    Keywords: housing unaffordability, depression, adolescents, China
    JEL: D10 I10 I31 J13 R21
    Date: 2022–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15305&r=
  3. By: Clark, Andrew E. (Paris School of Economics); Cotofan, Maria (CEP, London School of Economics); Layard, Richard (London School of Economics)
    Abstract: Information on both earnings and non-pecuniary rewards is needed to understand the occupational dispersion of wellbeing. We analyse subjective wellbeing in a large UK sample to construct a measure of "full earnings", the sum of earnings and the value of non-pecuniary rewards, in 90 different occupations. Labour-market inequality is underestimated: the dispersion of full earnings is one-third larger than the dispersion of earnings. Equally, the gender and ethnic gaps in the labour market are larger than those in earnings alone, and the full returns to education on the labour market are underestimated. These results are similar in data on US workers. In neither cross-section nor panel data do we find evidence of compensating differentials.
    Keywords: occupation, wages, non-pecuniary benefits, inequality
    JEL: I31 J31
    Date: 2022–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15279&r=
  4. By: Christian Krekel
    Abstract: The Covid-19 crisis prompted thousands to register as NHS Volunteer Responders, helping vulnerable people with small daily tasks like shopping. Christian Krekel and colleagues find big increases in wellbeing among those who took part in the programme, with effects lasting long after the time spent volunteering had ended.
    Keywords: Covid-19, Wellbeing, health, healthcare, subjective wellbeing, volunteering, pro-social action, quasi-natural experiment, social welfare analysis,
    Date: 2021–10–15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:617&r=
  5. By: Clark, Andrew E.; Cotofan, Maria; Layard, Richard
    Abstract:  Information on both earnings and non-pecuniary rewards is needed to understand the occupational dispersion of wellbeing. We analyse subjective wellbeing in a large UK sample to construct a measure of “full earnings†, the sum of earnings and the value of non-pecuniary rewards, in 90 different occupations. Labour-market inequality is underestimated: the dispersion of full earnings is one-third larger than the dispersion of earnings. Equally, the gender and ethnic gaps in the labour market are larger than those in earnings alone, and the full returns to education on the labour market are underestimated. These results are similar in data on US workers. In neither cross-section nor panel data do we find evidence of compensating differentials
    Keywords:  Occupation; Wages; Non-pecuniary benefits; Inequality
    Date: 2022–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:2206&r=
  6. By: Chaymaa Ourrache (UCD - Université Chouaib Doukkali); Dounia Rabhi (UCD - Université Chouaib Doukkali)
    Abstract: According to a study carried out in 2019 by the Malakoff Humanis group, 90% of employees believe that health and quality of life at work contribute to the company's performance. This percentage pushes companies to bet more on the well-being of their employees. Well-being refers to all the factors likely to positively influence the quality of life at work. These factors can be organizational, linked to working conditions, to management style. As they can be personal or psychological, linked to feelings of self-esteem, self-efficacy, motivation, degree of adaptability, sense of resilience, or positive thinking... which fall into the family of behavioral and personal skills, known as soft skills. This work seeks to provide a theoretical understanding of the importance of soft skills in professional well-being, by answering this central question that guided our research: Do soft skills promote well-being at work? In order to answer this question, we will mobilize a theoretical study based on both a literature review relating to soft skills and well-being at work. Our reflexion about this essay has shown that soft skills, called soft skills, represent a set of qualities that are very essential for well-being at work. However, the latter is not only the result of the mobilization and development of soft skills, other organizational and managerial factors can also improve well-being at work.The combination of all these factors therefore ensures great job satisfaction.
    Abstract: D'après une étude réalisée en 2019 par le groupe Malakoff Humanis, 90% des salariés pensent que la santé et la qualité de vie au travail contribuent à la performance de l'entreprise. Ce pourcentage pousse les entreprises à miser plus sur le bien-être de leurs salariés. Le bien-être désigne l'ensemble des facteurs susceptibles d'influencer positivement la qualité de vie au travail. Ces facteurs peuvent être organisationnels, liés aux conditions de travail, au style de management. Comme ils peuvent être personnels ou psychologiques, liés aux sentiments de l'auto-estime, de l'efficacité personnelle, de la motivation, du degré d'adaptabilité, du sens de la résilience, ou de la pensée positive …qui rentrent dans la famille des compétences comportementales et personnelles, dites, soft skills. Le présent travail cherche à fournir une compréhension théorique sur l'importance des softs skills dans le bienêtre professionnel, en répondant à cette question centrale qui a guidé notre recherche : Les soft skills permettentelles de favoriser le bien-être au travail ? Afin de répondre à cette question, nous avons mobilisé une étude théorique basée à la fois sur une revue de littérature relative aux soft skills et au bien-être au travail. Notre réflexion sur cet essai a montré que les soft skills représentent un ensemble de qualités qui sont très essentielles pour le bien-être au travail. Cependant, ce dernier n'est pas seulement le résultat de la mobilisation et le développement des soft skills, d'autres facteurs d'ordre organisationnel et managérial peuvent améliorer aussi le bien-être au travail. La combinaison donc entre tous ces facteurs assure une grande satisfaction au travail.
    Keywords: Company.,Employee,Well-being,Entreprise,Salarié,Bien-être,Soft skills
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03634459&r=

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