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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2025–02–03
ten papers chosen by Viviana Di Giovinazzo, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca |
| By: | Alberto Prati; Claudia Senik |
| Abstract: | We revisit the famous Easterlin paradox by considering that life evaluation scales refer to a changing context, hence they are regularly reinterpreted. We propose a simple model of rescaling based on both retrospective and current life evaluations, and apply it to unexploited archival data from the USA. When correcting for rescaling, we find that the well-being of Americans has substantially increased, on par with GDP, health, education, and liberal democracy, from the 1950s to the early 2000s. Using several datasets, we shed light on other happiness puzzles, including the apparent stability of life evaluations during COVID-19, why Ukrainians report similar levels of life satisfaction today as before the war, and the absence of parental happiness. |
| Keywords: | happiness, life satisfaction, subjective well-Being, Easterlin Paradox, Cantril Ladder, rescaling, Gallup, SOEP |
| Date: | 2025–01–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2068 |
| By: | Borooah, Vani |
| Abstract: | Happiness is usually measured by simply asking people about how happy they are (or, have been in the recent past). The most usual way of doing so is to ask a “happiness question”: ‘Taking all things together, would you say that you are (i) very happy; (ii) quite happy; (iii) not very happy; (iv) not at all happy?’ This subjective measure of happiness, based on a self-assessment of one’s emotional well-being, could, however, be complemented by other, more objective, measures of whether people were happy or unhappy. This chapter does so in respect of two indicators: tranquilliser usage among men and women in Belfast, Northern Ireland; and the propensity to self-harm among persons in the state of Queensland, Australia. |
| Keywords: | Happiness, Objective and Subjective Measures |
| JEL: | H0 I3 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:123179 |
| By: | Carcaba, Ana; Gonzalez, Eduardo; Arrondo, Ruben |
| Abstract: | Determining what makes a person happy is an extremely complicated task. The objective of this article is to identify the effects of the composition and orientation of governance bodies in municipalities on individual subjective well-being. We connect the data from a large Spanish welfare survey to municipal data covering the aforementioned dimensions of political configuration. Unlike previous country-level studies, we find no significant effects of political orientation when applied to municipal data. In contrast, political alternation emerges as a relevant driver of subjective well-being, especially when corrupt local governments are replaced. Furthermore, the fragmentation in the Spanish political landscape after the 2015 elections improved the level of political competition, which, in turn, exerted a positive effect on subjective well-being. |
| Keywords: | Good governance; subjective well-being; political competition; local government; Spain |
| JEL: | H75 I31 I38 M41 |
| Date: | 2023–12–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:123248 |
| By: | David G. Blanchflower; Alex Bryson |
| Abstract: | We report on the wellbeing of the young in 31 Ex-Soviet Republics located in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. We find no evidence of the decline in the mental health of the young relative to older people which characterizes Western Europe and English-speaking advanced economies. The mental health of the young in ex-Soviet republics is stable relative to older people across various surveys including the Gallup World Poll, the Eurobarometers, the World Values Surveys and the European Social Survey, as well as in surveys from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and UNICEF. However, there are two exceptions. A 2023 Flash Eurobarometer Mental Health survey conducted by the European Commission shows unhappiness declines in age in every EU member country including 11 in Eastern Europe. A similar finding emerges in our analysis of the web-based Global Minds surveys of 2020-2024 in 9 former Soviet republics. Youngster ages 18-24 in these surveys are especially unhappy. Furthermore, in keeping with research on children aged 15-16 in the PISA surveys in other countries, we find life satisfaction of these school children in ex-Soviet Republics declined over the period 2015-2022 and that, among this group, time spent on digital devices was associated with lower happiness. |
| JEL: | I31 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33356 |
| By: | David Lagakos; Stelios Michalopoulos; Hans-Joachim Voth |
| Abstract: | What does it take to live a meaningful life? We exploit a unique corpus of over 1, 400 life narratives of older Americans collected by a team of writers during the 1930s. We combine detailed human readings with large language models (LLMs) to extract systematic information on critical junctures, sources of meaning, and overall life satisfaction. Under specific conditions, LLMs can provide responses to complex questions that are indistinguishable from those of human readers, effectively passing a version of the Turing Test. We find that sources of life meaning are more varied than previous research suggested, underlining the importance of work and community contributions in addition to family and close relationships (emphasized by earlier work). The narratives also highlight gendered disparities, with women disproportionately citing adverse family events, such as the loss of a parent, underscoring their role as keepers of the kin. Our research expands our understanding of human flourishing during a transformative period in American history and establishes a robust and scalable framework for exploring subjective well-being across diverse historical and cultural contexts. |
| JEL: | I31 N0 O10 P00 Z10 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33373 |
| By: | Borooah, Vani |
| Abstract: | The twin issues of what makes people “happy, ” and the relative strength of these happiness affecting factors, have in the recent past become a staple of economic analysis and goes under the rubric of “happiness research”. The aim of such research is to understand what the determinants of happiness are and how these vary across population groups, distinguished by a variety of socio-economic and demographic factors (for example, education, marital status, economic position, social class, and geographic location). A key component of this research is a person’s subjective assessment of their state of happiness and this assessment is sought to be correlated, using methods of multiple regression, with the multitude of factors hypothesised to affect it. The purpose of this chapter is to use data from the World Values Survey to provide a self-contained overview of this research, discussing the many variables that are conventionally included in the “happiness equation”, the justification for their inclusion, and the strength of their effect. |
| Keywords: | Determinants of Happiness |
| JEL: | H0 I0 I00 I2 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:123174 |
| By: | Borooah, Vani |
| Abstract: | The link between income and happiness is often explained by the Easterlin paradox: income and happiness in a country are positively related at a point in time but unrelated, over time. So, at any point in time, money did buy happiness but, over time, the level of happiness in a country did not rise by much as it grew richer. This paradox was explained by the fact that higher income conferred two benefits to individuals: consumption benefits (in the sense of being able to afford more, and better, goods and services) and status benefits (in the sense of enjoying superior status relative to one’s peers). But what is not clear is the identity of comparator group for the purpose of deriving status benefits. This chapter uses a novel set of data to define parents as the comparator group and defines the status a person derives from their income in relation their parents’ income. Another issue in the amount of happiness that one can extract from income concerns the circumstances in which it is earned. Given that paid employment is central to the lives of many individuals, and that many persons spend a substantial part of their lives in paid employment, an understanding of people’s feelings of well-being in the workplace or, equivalently, their levels of “job satisfaction”, is of paramount importance to public policy. This chapter examines the strength of a variety of factors in determining the intensity of job satisfaction in 33 countries. The empirical foundation for the study is provided by data for nearly 22, 000 employed respondents, pertaining to the year 2000, obtained from the World Values Survey. |
| Keywords: | Income, Job Satisfaction, Inter-Generational |
| JEL: | I3 J3 J31 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:123250 |
| By: | Borooah, Vani |
| Abstract: | This chapter provides an overview of the main themes presented in this book. Most books on happiness are concerned with answering, in their diverse ways, a basic question: how should I live? Such books assume, however, that the path to happiness lies entirely within one’s control. Happiness is simply a matter of doing certain things and refraining from doing certain other things. This book, however, takes a different view. It is that happiness is not always within our control but, instead, prey to the attitudes and actions of others. Following Jean-Paul Sartre’s aphorism, “hell is other people”, the broad theme of this book is that “unhappiness is other people”. In the language of economics, “other” people, through their attitudes and actions, create externalities – generally negative - which serve to make “us” unhappy. The instruments for creating such externalities are intolerance and feelings of envy/superiority. This book expands on this theme in respect of three areas: religion, money, and prejudice. |
| Keywords: | Survey, Happiness, Issues in Welfare |
| JEL: | H0 I00 I3 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:123175 |
| By: | Andrea Salustri; Maria Alessandra Antonelli (Università Sapienza di Roma - Dipartimento di Studi Giuridici ed Economici) |
| Abstract: | We illustrate an empirical analysis carried out for 22 European countries over the period 2008-2019 of the relationships between a set of socio-economic indicators and social protection expenditure functions. The empirical evidence suggests that expenditure targeting is relevant in the implementation of social policy objectives. Furthermore, non-linear relationships emerge between expenditure functions and performance indicators. Finally, results might suggest the relevance of the socio-cultural dimension as a determinant of the effectiveness of social policies. |
| Keywords: | social protection systems, compensation policies, social investments, social expenditure functions, socioeconomic indicators |
| JEL: | I31 I38 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gfe:pfrp00:00066 |
| By: | Georgellis, Yannis; Roodbari, Hamid; Oraee, Atrina; Akaighe, Godbless Onoriode |
| Abstract: | Purpose This article examines the relationships between objective overqualification, volunteering as an extra-work activity and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on a vast secondary sample of 20, 686 British employees across four waves covering the period 2009–2017. The bivariate ordered probit estimate was used to test the study hypotheses in the bioprobit procedure in STATA. Findings Our study unravels compelling insights. Overqualified employees experience lower job satisfaction and engage more in volunteering activities. The results emphasised that voluntary work allows the utilisation of skills and fulfils basic psychological needs, leading to enhanced general well-being and higher job satisfaction. Practical implications Overqualified employees, by actively engaging in volunteering, not only make valuable contributions to society but also experience positive spillover effects that significantly influence their workplace attitudes and behaviours. This underscores the potential for promoting volunteering as an effective means to mitigate the private and social overqualification. Originality/value This study provides valuable insights into the role of overqualification as well as resulting job dissatisfaction, in shaping volunteering decisions. This insight contributes to the overqualification literature and strengthens our understanding of volunteering as an important mechanism in the relationship between overqualification and job satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | overqualification; volunteering; job satisfaction |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2024–12–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126277 |