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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2024‒03‒18
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Audi, Marc; Poulin, Marc; Ali, Amjad |
| Abstract: | This study aims to examine the impact of financial inclusion on human well-being in South Asian countries from 1996 to 2020. Specifically, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh were selected for this investigation. Human well-being is treated as the dependent variable, while financial inclusion, health facilities, voice & accountability, income inequality, corruption, education facilities, and the unemployment rate are considered independent variables. The study's findings indicate that financial inclusion, health facilities, and education facilities have a positive and significant impact on human well-being. The improvement of health and educational facilities not only creates more employment opportunities but also contributes to the enhancement of income, education, and health status within a nation. These results explain that selected South Asian countries should prioritize the promotion of education and health facilities to elevate the overall level of human well-being. Voice & accountability, along with corruption, exhibit an inverse and significant influence on human well-being in selected South Asian countries. Income inequality, on the other hand, shows an inverse but insignificant impact on human well-being, while unemployment has a significant and positive influence. Based on the estimated results, it is recommended that to enhance the level of human well-being in South Asian countries, there is a need to improve financial inclusion, health facilities, and educational facilities. |
| Keywords: | human well-being, financial inclusion, health facilities, voice & accountability |
| JEL: | D63 I22 I30 P46 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120119&r=hap |
| By: | Husbands, Samantha; Mitchell, Paul Mark; Kinghorn, Philip; Byford, Sarah; Bailey, Cara; Anand, Paul; Peters, Tim J.; Floredin, Isabella; Coast, Joanna |
| Abstract: | Purpose: This study explores how important well-becoming factors appear to be to children during childhood. We define well-becoming as the indicators which predict children and young people’s future wellbeing and opportunities. The priority for this work was to explore whether well-becoming might be an important factor to include in outcome measures for children and young people. The inclusion of well-becoming indicators could ensure that opportunities to invest in promoting wellbeing in children’s futures are not missed. Methods: In-depth, qualitative interviews (N = 70) were undertaken with children and young people aged 6–15 years and their parents. Analysis used constant comparison and framework methods to investigate whether well-becoming factors were considered important by informants to children and young people’s current wellbeing. Results: The findings of the interviews suggested that children and young people and their parents are concerned with future well-becoming now, as factors such as future achievement, financial security, health, independence, identity, and relationships were identified as key to future quality of life. Informants suggested that they considered it important during childhood to aspire towards positive outcomes in children and young people’s futures. Conclusion: The study findings, taken alongside relevant literature, have generated evidence to support the notion that future well-becoming is important to current wellbeing. We have drawn on our own work in capability wellbeing measure development to demonstrate how we have incorporated a well-becoming attribute into our measures. The inclusion of well-becoming indicators in measures could aid investment in interventions which more directly improve well-becoming outcomes for children and young people. |
| Keywords: | capabilities; children and young people; economic measure development; well-becoming; wellbeing measures; 205384/Z/16/Z |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2024–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:122060&r=hap |
| By: | Abrahamsson, Sara (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | How smartphone usage affects well-being and learning among children and adolescents is a concern for schools, parents, and policymakers. Combining detailed administrative data with survey data on middle schools’ smartphone policies, together with an event-study design, I show that banning smartphones significantly decreases the health care take-up for psychological symptoms and diseases among girls. Post-ban bullying among both genders decreases. Additionally, girls’ GPA improves, and their likelihood of attending an academic high school track increases. These effects are larger for girls from low socio-economic backgrounds. Hence, banning smartphones from school could be a low-cost policy tool to improve student outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Smartphones; mental health; grade point average; bullying; test scores |
| JEL: | I12 I21 I31 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2024_001&r=hap |