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on Neuroeconomics |
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Issue of 2009‒11‒27
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Do, Quy-Toan; Iyer, Lakshmi |
| Abstract: | The authors survey the recent literature on the mental health effects of conflict. They highlight the methodological challenges faced in this literature, which include the lack of validated mental health scales in a survey context, the difficulties in measuring individual exposure to conflict, and the issues related to making causal inferences from observed correlations. They illustrate how some of these issues can be overcome in a study of mental health in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mental health is measured using a clinically validated scale; conflict exposure is proxied by administrative data on war casualties instead of being self-reported. The analysis suggests that there are no significant differences in overall mental health across areas which are affected by ethnic conflict to a greater or lesser degree. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Disease Control&Prevention,Population Policies,Gender and Health,Health Systems Development&Reform |
| Date: | 2009–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5132&r=neu |
| By: | Justina A.V. Fischer |
| Abstract: | Previous happiness research has explicitly assumed that subjective well-being is U-shaped in age. This paper sheds new light on this issue testing several functional forms. Using micro data from the World Values Survey on 44 000 persons in 30 economically advanced OECD countries with long life expectancies, we reveal a hyperbolic functional form. We find that life satisfaction reaches another local maximum around the age of 83, with a level identical to that of a 26-year old. This hyperbolic well-beingage relation is robust to the inclusion of cohort effects. We test this relationship for each OECD country separately, and corroborate the functional form using a sample of non-OECD countries.<BR>Jusqu’à présent, la recherche sur le bonheur est partie du principe que le bien-être subjectif suit une distribution de l’âge en forme de U. Ce document apporte de nouvelles informations sur cette question en testant plusieurs formes de fonctions. En utilisant les données individuelles du World Values Survey sur 44 000 personnes dans 30 pays de l’OCDE avec des espérances de vie longues, nous proposons une fonction hyperbolique. Nous trouvons que la satisfaction de vie atteint un autre niveau maximum à 83 ans, un niveau identique à celui de l’âge de 26 ans. Cette relation hyperbolique avec l’âge est robuste en incluant les effets de cohortes. Nous testons cette relation pour chaque pays de l’OCDE séparément, et l’utilisons en utilisant une sélection de pays non membres de l’OCDE. |
| JEL: | A14 D61 I3 I31 J14 |
| Date: | 2009–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:99-en&r=neu |
| By: | Funk, Matt |
| Abstract: | Darwin's "Origin" launched evolution into theoretical orbit and it continues to influence its course. This magnum opus detailed a tenable solution to the most fundamental problem of human existence, and although this Promethean vision contains sundry trivial flaws, there is, however, one nontrivial error which misguides several crucial developments – not only in the evolving structure of evolutionary theory, but across the entire spectrum of science, including politico-economics. This problem has led social and evolutionary theorists alike to mistakenly favour earth-based inputs over cosmic inputs, to over-emphasize biological evolution, and to under-emphasize stellar evolution. These methodological and logical errors have, in turn, emphasized the significance of the individual “struggle against competitors” over the cooperative “struggle against inclement environments”, and thus, as a result, fashionable theories relating to Global Warming, The Problem of Sustainable Economic Development, and The Tragedy of the Commons have been erected on a false foundations – and, moreover, point toward inherently unstable solutions. And to these salient points, in light of the theory presented here, we discover that the effective coordination of global threat mitigation efforts requires unprecedented levels of international politico-economic cooperation. |
| Keywords: | tragedy of the commons; sustainable economic development; global warming; mass extinctions; ecological economics; ideological environmentalism; stellar evolution; cosmic inputs; global threat mitigation; international cooperation |
| JEL: | Q51 Q54 Q57 |
| Date: | 2009–11–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:18807&r=neu |