|
on Economics of Happiness |
|
Issue of 2026–09–14
six papers chosen by Viviana Di Giovinazzo, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca |
| By: | Costa-Font, Joan (London School of Economics); Jimenez-Martin, Sergi (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Vilaplana, Cristina (University of Murcia) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the health and wellbeing effects of subsidized access to long-term care (LTC). Our analysis exploits the staggered implementation of Spain’s 2007 System of Autonomy and Care for Dependent People (SAAD), which expanded publicly funded and universal LTC subsidies and supports, as well as its subsequent reform. Using two decades worth of administrative and survey data and leveraging exogenous regional and individual-level variation in program exposure, we find that access to SAAD benefits reduces the care receiver’s depressive symptoms by about 1 percentage point, increases its survival probability by 2.6–3 percentage points, and raises its life satisfaction by 0.24–0.50 scale points. Cost-effectiveness estimates indicate that the implied cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained lies below commonly accepted efficiency thresholds for public health spending in Europe. These findings document sizeable health returns and efficiency gains from publicly subsidized LTC provision |
| Keywords: | long-term care subsidies, long-term care supports, old age care, Spain, mortality, cost per QALY, survival, mental health, life satisfaction |
| JEL: | I18 J14 J16 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18890 |
| By: | Dalle, Axana (Ghent University); Moens, Eline (Ghent University); Van Ootegem, Luc (Ghent University); Verhofstadt, Elsy (Ghent University); Baert, Stijn (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | This systematic literature review provides a state-of-the-art overview of the effectiveness of workplace interventions aimed at improving workers’ mental well-being. Specifically, it examines which types of interventions are effective for which aspects of mental well-being, both in the short and long term. To this end, we identify 125 randomised controlled trials comprising 147 interventions that vary in their objectives (prevention, treatment, or reintegration), targets (workers or work), methods (cognitive, meditation-based, physical, ergonomic, organisational, or multimethod) and delivery channels (offline, online or hybrid). Mental well-being outcomes are classified as biological and self-reported indicators of the three components of subjective mental well-being (evaluative, affective, and eudaimonic well-being). Overall, we find that, for preventing and treating early mental health symptoms, cognitive or meditation-based interventions targeting personal coping resources appear most promising. In contrast, successful reintegration seems to require a combination of cognitive and organisational interventions, with the latter addressing job demands and resources. |
| Keywords: | mental well-being, workplace, interventions, randomised controlled trials |
| JEL: | C93 I31 J28 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18907 |
| By: | Louise Devos; Louis Lippens; Stijn Baert |
| Abstract: | interventions aimed at improving workers’ mental well-being. Specifically, it examines which types of interventions are effective for which aspects of mental well-being, both in the short and long term. To this end, we identify 125 randomised controlled trials comprising 147 interventions that vary in their objectives (prevention, treatment, or reintegration), targets (workers or work), methods (cognitive, meditation-based, physical, ergonomic, organisational, or multimethod) and delivery channels (offline, online or hybrid). Mental well-being outcomes are classified as biological and self-reported indicators of the three components of subjective mental well-being (evaluative, affective, and eudaimonic well-being). Overall, we find that, for preventing and treating early mental health symptoms, cognitive or meditation-based interventions targeting personal coping resources appear most promising. In contrast, successful reintegration seems to require a combination of cognitive and organisational interventions, with the latter addressing job demands and resources. |
| Keywords: | religion, hiring, discrimination, factorial survey experiment |
| JEL: | C83 J61 J71 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:26/1151 |
| By: | Martinez, Alex; Perona, Mathieu |
| Abstract: | Alors que les villes offrent emplois, services et opportunités, leurs habitants déclarent paradoxalement une satisfaction de vie plus faible que les ruraux. Cette note explore ce paradoxe sous l’angle du cadre résidentiel, à partir des données de l’enquête SRCV. Nous montrons d’abord que l’habitat collectif, plus fréquent en ville, expose davantage aux nuisances – bruit, pollution, insécurité, manque de propreté – et que ces nuisances pèsent nettement sur le bien-être : plus elles s’accumulent, plus la satisfaction de vie, la satisfaction résidentielle et la santé subjective diminuent. Parmi elles, le bruit apparaît comme la plus pénalisante. La qualité interne du logement compte également : humidité, manque de luminosité ou charges financières jugées lourdes sont associés à une satisfaction plus faible. L’espace disponible joue un rôle majeur, mais de façon non linéaire : les gains de satisfaction sont surtout sensibles en dessous de 40 m² par personne, seuil au-delà duquel l’espace supplémentaire n’apporte plus grand-chose. Le résultat le plus frappant tient au renversement du constat initial : une fois prises en compte les caractéristiques des logements et des ménages, vivre dans une grande agglomération devient favorable à la satisfaction résidentielle. Le déficit apparent des grandes villes, et de Paris en particulier, s’explique donc largement par les caractéristiques de leur parc immobilier, plutôt que par un effet propre du territoire ; les aménités urbaines (services, transports, commerces) compensant en partie les contraintes du logement. Enfin, nous soulignons que le cadre résidentiel se répercute, de manière atténuée, sur la satisfaction de vie générale, faisant du logement une composante essentielle du bien-être subjectif. |
| Keywords: | Bien-être, Habitat, Nuisances |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:notobe:2616 |
| By: | Cárdenas Fernández, Carolina Andrea (Designing Wellbeing) |
| Abstract: | The gap between knowing about wellbeing and practicing it constitutes a central challenge for research in design and public health. This article proposes the Cultural Integration of Wellbeing Practices (CIWP) Framework, a conceptual framework developed through Research through Design that articulates five dimensions—connection with meaningful values, situated opportunities, appropriation, everyday sustainability, and social legitimacy—to understand the conditions that support the incorporation of evidence-based wellbeing practices into everyday life and, eventually, into culture. Through a retrospective reading of the Wellbeing Practices in Waiting Spaces (WPWS) Framework, the article shows how these conditions can be translated into concrete design decisions through a situated activation mechanism, operationalized through three interdependent components—spatiotemporal conditions, human capacities, and visual mediation devices—and five design principles. The crosswalk indicates that WPWS provides direct operational expression to three of the five CIWP dimensions—situated opportunities, appropriation, and everyday sustainability—while connection with meaningful values and social legitimacy remain open dimensions that require processes beyond the visual mediation device itself. CIWP is offered as a transferable conceptual architecture—not as a fixed configuration—whose value will be tested through future operationalizations in contexts other than waiting spaces. Keywords: cultural integration of wellbeing practices; conditions of possibility; salutogenesis; interdisciplinarity for wellbeing; design for wellbeing promotion; Trauma-informed design; Research through Design; situated activation. |
| Date: | 2026–08–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:yev3h_v1 |
| By: | Cárdenas Fernández, Carolina Andrea (Designing Wellbeing) |
| Abstract: | Cities have expanded access to physical wellbeing by placing exercise equipment in parks and public squares: infrastructure can offer opportunities for practice without requiring a gym, a fee, or deliberate search. This study asks whether a similar logic can extend to everyday mental wellbeing: can urban infrastructure facilitate voluntary activation of wellbeing micropractices where people, time, and urban infrastructure already converge, without additional time, financial cost, or specialized access? Using a Research through Design (RtD) approach, this study develops the Wellbeing Practices in Waiting Spaces (WPWS) framework through four phases: (1) qualitative clinical exploration using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (N = 8); (2) iterative design and urban prototyping in Amsterdam, Milan, and Barcelona; (3) exploration of everyday appropriation across seven countries (N = 41); and (4) comparative analysis of public-space wellbeing interventions. Low rates of voluntary flow interruption in high-flow contexts were treated as a generative finding, suggesting that instrumental movement may constrain attentional availability, leading the inquiry toward stationary contexts: waiting spaces. Three interdependent components of situated activation emerged: (1) spatio-temporal conditions shaping attentional availability (when); (2) inner human capacities, including mindfulness, appreciation, and compassion (what); and (3) visual mediating devices providing legible, brief, voluntary invitations to wellbeing micropractices (how). Across the urban prototypes, voluntary flow interruption, defined as stopping for ≥5 seconds, ranged from 1% to 5%. In Phase 3, 85.4% of participants reported mentally repeating the phrase, and 60.9% reported sharing it. WPWS is proposed as a transferable design architecture rather than a fixed intervention. It reconceptualizes waiting spaces as an underused spatio-temporal condition for situated activation, while recognizing that this proposition has not yet been empirically tested against other urban contexts. The findings do not establish causal or clinical effects, but provide a foundation for investigating how existing urban infrastructure can expand everyday access to wellbeing practices. Keywords: Urban wellbeing; Waiting spaces; Latent wellbeing infrastructure; Situated activation; Mental health equity; Trauma-informed design; Wellbeing micropractices. |
| Date: | 2026–08–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ygvq3_v1 |