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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2024‒07‒15
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Ha Trong Nguyen; Mitrou, Francis |
| Abstract: | The catastrophic effects of natural disasters on social and economic systems are well-documented; however, their impacts on individual life satisfaction remain insufficiently understood. This study pioneers a causal analysis of cyclones' impacts on Australians' life satisfaction, using local cyclones as natural experiments. Analysing over two decades of data, individual fixed-effects models reveal that cyclones, particularly category 5 (highest severity) cyclones in close proximity to residences, significantly reduce overall life satisfaction and specific domains like community, personal safety, and health satisfaction. Notably, these cyclones have a lasting impact on community and personal safety satisfaction. Our findings withstand rigorous sensitivity assessments, including a falsification test demonstrating no impact of future cyclones on current life satisfaction. Moreover, extensive heterogeneous analysis uncovers significant variations in cyclone impact based on life satisfaction domains and individual, household, and regional characteristics. Additionally, this study shows that cyclone-induced home damage, especially from the most severe cyclones, significantly diminishes the aforementioned life satisfaction outcomes, but to a much greater magnitude. |
| Keywords: | Natural Disasters, Life Satisfaction, Happiness, Wellbeing, Australia |
| JEL: | I12 I31 R23 Q54 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1446&r= |
| By: | Fabrice Murtin |
| Abstract: | This paper applies Machine learning techniques to Google Trends data to provide real-time estimates of national average subjective well-being among 38 OECD countries since 2010. We make extensive usage of large custom micro databases to enhance the training of models on carefully pre-processed Google Trends data. We find that the best one-year-ahead prediction is obtained from a meta-learner that combines the predictions drawn from an Elastic Net with and without interactions, from a Gradient-Boosted Tree and from a Multi-layer Perceptron. As a result, across 38 countries over the 2010-2020 period, the out-of-sample prediction of average subjective well-being reaches an R2 of 0.830. |
| Keywords: | poverty, spatial inequality, well-being |
| JEL: | C1 C45 C53 D60 I31 |
| Date: | 2024–06–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:wiseaa:27-en&r= |
| By: | Stephen Hoskins (Center for Research on Successful Ageing, Singapore Management University); David W. Johnston (Monash University); Johannes S. Kunz (Monash University); Michael A. Shields (Monash University); Kevin E. Staub (University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | Using a high-frequency panel survey, we examine the sensitivity of estimated self-reported well-being (SWB) dynamics to using monthly, quarterly, and yearly data. This is an important issue if SWB is to be used to evaluate policy. Results from autoregressive models that account for individual-level het- erogeneity indicate that the estimated persistence using yearly data is near zero. However, estimated persistence from monthly and quarterly data is substantial. We estimate that persistence to shocks typically lasts around six months and has a net present value of 75–80 per cent of the contemporaneous effect. Estimates are similar for different domains of SWB. |
| Keywords: | well-being, life satisfaction, dynamic panel data, adaptation, panel autoregression |
| JEL: | I10 I30 I31 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mhe:chemon:2024-05&r= |
| By: | Perona, Mathieu |
| Abstract: | Les ménages composés de deux personnes de même sexe regroupent près de 270 000 personnes en France. Malgré des caractéristiques socio-économiques en moyenne plus favorables que les ménages de sexe différent, la satisfaction quant à leur vie en général est plus faible chez les ménages d’hommes, et la satisfaction vis-à-vis du travail plus faible dans les ménages de femmes. |
| Keywords: | France, LGBT, Wellbeing |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:notobe:2406&r= |