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on Economics of Happiness |
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Issue of 2025–10–27
six papers chosen by Viviana Di Giovinazzo, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca |
| By: | Baktash, Mehrzad B. (University of Trier); Heywood, John S. (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee); Jirjahn, Uwe (University of Trier) |
| Abstract: | Using German survey data, we show conflicting influences of performance pay on overall life satisfaction. The overall influence reflects a strong positive influence through domains of life satisfaction associated with the job (job satisfaction, individual earnings satisfaction and household earning satisfaction) and a strong negative influence through domains away from the job (health satisfaction, sleep satisfaction and family life satisfaction). This trade-off between work and home generalizes and helps explain many previous studies examining much more specific consequences of performance pay. Finally, controlling for the mediating role of the domains, the direct influence on life satisfaction is positive for women and insignificantly different from zero for men. |
| Keywords: | well-being, life satisfaction, performance pay, satisfaction domains, gender |
| JEL: | D10 J22 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18181 |
| By: | Fernandez, William |
| Abstract: | In the developed world, efforts are underway to extend working lives. However, discussions often overlook the potential implications of retirement for individual well-being. While the relationship between retirement and life satisfaction has been extensively studied, the effects of spousal retirement remain underexplored, particularly from a gender and timing perspective. This paper examines the impact of retirement on self-reported life satisfaction among couples in Germany. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), I employ standard fixed-effects (FE) models and fixed-effects individual slopes (FEIS) to estimate the causal effects of personal and partner retirement on life satisfaction. The findings show that retirement substantially increases life satisfaction, a result that remains robust across methodologies and specifications. For partner retireïment, accounting for heterogeneous trends by health status reveals an overall positive effect, driven by men. Moreover, women appear to be worse off when their husbands retire while they remain in the workforce, whereas the opposite holds for men. To my knowledge, this is the first study to examine the impact of both personal and spousal retirement on life satisfaction using the SOEP. The results provide robust evidence that partner retirement affects life satisfaction, highlighting the importance of understanding retirement as a life course event with intra-household spillover effects that extend beyond the retiring individual. |
| Date: | 2025–10–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:mk4tx_v1 |
| By: | Blamey Amelia (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Arthur Grimes (Victoria University of Wellington); Norman Gemmell (Victoria University of Wellington) |
| Abstract: | Between 2005 and 2021, New Zealand house prices rose by 142%, partly driven by inflationary macroeconomic policies. This paper explores the extent to which higher property prices (i.e. house prices and rents) affect measures of objective and subjective wellbeing, and how these effects vary by housing tenure. We measure objective wellbeing using non-housing consumption expenditure (NHE) and subjective wellbeing through life satisfaction. Housing tenure types include private renters, public renters, outright homeowners, and mortgaged homeowners. Our empirical strategy estimates the effect of property prices on each wellbeing indicator by tenure type. We also identify contributions of monetary policy to property price developments. Using survey data from 84, 732 representative households collected by StatsNZ, we find that, relative to outright owners, higher property prices are associated with a decline in NHE for each of private renters, public renters and mortgaged homeowners. In addition, relative to homeowners, renters report significantly lower life satisfaction as house prices rise, with heterogeneous effects depending on age, income and local house price: rent ratios. Our results indicate that macroeconomic policies, operating through the property market, can exacerbate wellbeing inequalities associated with housing tenure. |
| Keywords: | House prices, rents, monetary policy, subjective wellbeing, expenditure, housing tenure |
| JEL: | D12 D31 E65 I31 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:25_09 |
| By: | Guy Gellatly; Helen Foran; Lauren Pinault |
| Abstract: | The prevalence of Canadians who report high levels of life satisfaction has trended lower since inflationary pressures began to build in 2021. In early 2024, 48.6% of Canadians aged 15 years and older reported that they were highly satisfied with their lives, a decline of more than 5 percentage points from three years earlier. The gradual deterioration in life satisfaction has been unevenly felt, with more sizable reductions among young adults, racialized Canadians and those living in larger urban centres.Note Cumulative declines among younger Canadians over the past three years, which occurred against a backdrop of deteriorating housing affordability and large increases in rental prices, have totalled about 11 percentage points, with about one in three reporting high levels of life satisfaction by early 2024. |
| Keywords: | life satisfaction, Canada, young families |
| JEL: | J23 M21 |
| Date: | 2024–12–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp8e:202401200001e |
| By: | Luis Guirola (AQR-IREA, University of Barcelona); Gonzalo Rivero |
| Abstract: | We study how political polarization impacts trust in the government and independent institutions. We gather microdata from 27 countries over three decades and identify 142 government changes. For each of these events, we run a difference in differences design comparing left and right-wing supporters to identify the effect on trust caused by a particular party controlling the executive. The estimated effect ranges from 0 to 2.1 standard deviations, and is systematically larger when party polarization is stronger– this variable alone explains 72% of the variation. The effect propagates onto trust in the European Central Bank and other institutions outside government control. Examining the mechanism, we find evidence consistent with a) lack of knowledge about independence and b) that elections under high polarization are high-stakes events affecting multiple dimensions, including subjective wellbeing, and trust toward the political system as a whole. |
| Keywords: | political polarization, trust, institutions, politics JEL classification:D72, D14, D02 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:202505 |
| By: | Rau, Tomás |
| Abstract: | The widespread use of mobile devices among adolescents has led many schools and governments to consider or implement restrictions on their usage. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the effects of school cellphone policies on student outcomes, focusing primarily on student well-being and classroom dynamics. Using detailed microdata from the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) across 81 countries, the study finds that stricter cellphone policies are associated with significant reductions in classroom distractions and lower levels of student-reported anxiety related to mobile-device use, even under mild enforcement conditions. Moreover, when bans are effectively enforced, measurable improvements in standardized test scores emerge, providing clarity to previously inconclusive findings in the literature. Subgroup analyses reveal limited heterogeneity, although private school students experience greater anxiety reductions. Policy recommendations emphasize the critical role of enforcement, the importance of targeted approaches tailored to school context and socioeconomic differences, and the necessity of continuous policy evaluation and adaptation. |
| JEL: | I21 I31 O33 J24 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:14306 |