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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2023‒11‒13
five papers chosen by |
| By: | d'Albis, Hippolyte; Mayaux, Damien; Senik, Claudia |
| Abstract: | One of the main puzzles uncovered by the happiness literature is the U-shaped relationship between age and self-declared happiness, with a mid-life nadir, around 50-55. In this paper, we show that mid-life is also the moment when within-age income inequality is at its most. We also show that greater within-age income inequality comes with lower life satisfaction. Moreover, this negative impact is stronger for those whose income is below the median level in their age-group. Hence, relative income concerns seem to be a factor of the trough in the age-happiness curve. |
| Keywords: | Life satisfaction, life cycle, age-specific income inequality, I31, H24 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:2309&r=hap |
| By: | Fritsch, Michael (University of Jena); Sorgner, Alina (John Cabot University); Wyrwich, Michael (University of Groningen) |
| Abstract: | We propose an extension of the standard occupational choice model to analyze the life satisfaction of senior entrepreneurs as compared to paid employees and particularly retirees in Germany. The analysis identifies income and health status as main factors that shape the relationship between occupational status and life satisfaction. Senior entrepreneurs enjoy higher levels of life satisfaction than retirees and senior paid employees. This higher life satisfaction is mainly due to their higher income. Physical and mental health play a crucial role in determining both an individual's occupational status and their overall life satisfaction. We find that senior self-employed report to be healthier compared to other groups of elderly individuals. However, when controlling for health, retirees exhibit an even higher level of life satisfaction compared to their self-employed counterparts. Heterogeneity analysis of various types of senior entrepreneurs and senior paid employees confirms this general pattern. In addition, we find some evidence indicating that senior entrepreneurs may compromise their leisure time, a main asset of retired individuals. Implications for research, policy, and practitioners are discussed. |
| Keywords: | senior entrepreneurship, health conditions, well‐being, life satisfaction, age |
| JEL: | L26 I31 J10 D91 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16534&r=hap |
| By: | Alberto Prati |
| Abstract: | Some people face sharper increases in the prices they pay than others - and since inflation makes everyone miserable, they also experience greater loss of happiness. Alberto Prati assesses the costs of such inflation inequalities in France, and explains why measuring them is important for a policy agenda that places citizens' wellbeing at its centre. |
| Keywords: | Wellbeing, happiness, inflation, equality |
| Date: | 2023–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:657&r=hap |
| By: | Nye Cominetti; Rui Costa; Charlie McCurdy; Gregory Thwaites |
| Abstract: | The CEP carries out policy-focused research on the causes of economic growth and effective ways to create a fair, inclusive and sustainable society. The Insights series highlights the contributions that CEP research has made in different areas of economics since the centre was set up in 1990. |
| Keywords: | Wellbeing, mental health, employment, World Happiness Report, Politics, happiness |
| Date: | 2023–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:653&r=hap |
| By: | Lynn Riggs (Productivity Commission) |
| Abstract: | While poverty is thought to be an enduring cause of socioeconomic disadvantage, determining which people live in poverty is not a straightforward task. Hence, examining the relationship between poverty, disadvantage and wellbeing is complicated by the difficulty of determining the extent to which people live in poverty or the extent to which they are disadvantaged. In the past, poverty measurement has predominantly been income based. However, due to the limitations of income measurement and the somewhat arbitrary setting of income poverty thresholds, some people who are not impoverished are counted as impoverished and vice versa. Recent work in poverty measurement has endeavoured to capture measures of both deprivation and social exclusion as poverty indicators. This paper differs from previous research by examining the dimensions of disadvantage, irrespective of an a priori classification of indicators, to assess the extent to which indicators of disadvantage are in fact measuring different dimensions of disadvantage. Principal Components Analysis is used to construct measures of the different dimensions of disadvantage, and these measures are used to examine the relationship between these different dimensions of disadvantage and wellbeing. |
| Keywords: | socioeconomic disadvantage, wellbeing, social exclusion, deprivation |
| JEL: | I32 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ayz:wpaper:23_01&r=hap |