One of the early key empirical findings of the happiness literature is that at higher levels of per capita real income there appears to be diminishing returns to income at least with regards to ...marginal changes in ‘happiness’ measured by various survey instruments. Although these results have been recently challenged, these earlier findings and the results of many contemporary studies suggest that an inelastic relationship exists between real per capita income and happiness after a relatively low threshold of per capita income is reached. Appling some of the results of prospect theory I argue that even if it were true that the marginal effect of income on happiness is zero, a reduction in income would probably reduce the level of happiness, yielding a kink in the ‘happiness curve’. Also, applying a target income approach to the happiness literature, one can argue that pursuing higher target income, in itself, is a means of increasing life satisfaction. These two theoretical instruments yield results consistent with some of the most recent empirical finding based on Gallup Poll Survey data. In addition, applying insights from the capabilities approach, I argue, that increasing income is a means of purchasing the capabilities to increase individual levels of happiness through the production of public goods, such as health care and education. A given marginal increase in income need not generate any increase in happiness if this income increase is highly unequally distributed in a population or is not used to purchase goods and services that contribute to increases in the level of happiness.
We investigate the relationship between part-time work and working hours satisfaction, job satisfaction and life satisfaction. We account for interdependence within the family using data on partnered ...men and women from the British Household Panel Survey. Men have the highest hours-of-work satisfaction if they work full-time without overtime hours but neither their job satisfaction nor their life satisfaction are affected by how many hours they work. Women present a puzzle. Hours satisfaction and job satisfaction indicate that women prefer part-time jobs irrespective of whether these are small or large but their life satisfaction is virtually unaffected by hours of work.
Happiness has been proposed as an alternative goal in welfare analyses. Several indices have been proposed for its measurement but studies about their metric properties and validity are insufficient. ...In this paper, the Happy Planet Index is analyzed in terms of its consequential validity as a global health inequality indicator from the invariant measurement perspective of the Rasch model. Model fit is analyzed with emphasis on differential item functioning when comparing between world regions, and its consequential validity by comparing conclusions about the magnitude and inequalities in countries’ happiness. Main findings show enough evidences for structural and construct validity, but not for the supposed underlying score distribution; not either for its generalizability because of sever differential functioning. Conclusions about the magnitude of geographical inequalities and happiest countries substantially differed between the original index and the Rasch measure.
Er danskerne så lykkelige? Lolle, Henrik; Andersen, Jørgen Goul
Metode & Forskningsdesign,
07/2013
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Forskning i lykke og livstilfredshed, eller subjective well-being, er i de seneste år nærmest eksploderet, og parallelt hermed har der været en stærkt stigende politisk interesse i begrebet, ikke ...mindst i nationale sammenligninger af lykke- og tilfredshedsniveau. Men kan vi nu også stole på disse sammenligninger, der i øvrigt som hovedregel har placeret Danmark i toppen af rangstigen eller meget tæt på? Det er notorisk, at selv ganske små omformuleringer af surveyspørgsmål og -svar kan resultere i ganske betydelige forskelle i svarmønstre, så det er nærliggende, at en del af landeforskellene i lykke og tilfredshed vil kunne henføres til oversættelsesproblematikker. Artiklen undersøger dette nøjere via et surveyeksperiment blandt danske universitetsstuderende. Resultaterne viser ret entydigt, at der er noget på færde med sproget. Resultaterne følger nemlig ret nøje de på forhånd opstillede hypoteser, herunder ikke mindst at tilfredshed virker som en magnet på danskere, samt at ordet ”lykkelig” er et stort ord, som man varer sig lidt imod at tage i sin mund set i forhold til det engelske ord ”happy”.
This paper attempts to shed light on some aspects of the U.S. consumers?apparent bulimia that was at the origin of the recent global crisis. We seek to show how different characteristics of the ...American society and economy, which are usually considered separately, are consistently related to such a multifaceted phenomenon. Hence, we illustrate some structural features of the U.S. economy and public policies that may contribute to create a difference, in terms of patterns of consumption and participation in market activities, between the U.S. and some other advanced economies (in particular, the major economies of continental Europe). We then proceed by presenting some explanations of the U.S. hyper-consumerism. We do so by introducing concepts and analyses elaborated by psychologists and sociologists that may help relating this phenomenon to the decline in subjective well-being and social capital documented in the U.S. over the period preceding the crisis. Moreover, we discuss how the NEG (Negative Endogenous Growth) paradigm can account for the recent U.S. consumption boom by treating it as part of the typical reinforcing loop that characterizes the U.S. pattern of economic growth. Finally, we focus on how the U.S. can exit from the current crisis: we underline some weaknesses of the two politically more realistic policy alternatives, and we outline a third exit strategy, which would possibly be preferable in terms of people?s long-term well-being.
This paper presents the main concepts used in measuring segregation. First it shows that the cardinal as well as the ordinal approach to the measurement of occupational segregation, when only two ...groups are considered (generally men and women), borrowed many ideas from the income inequality measurement literature. Second, it shows that more recent advances in segregation measurement, that were the consequence of an extension of segregation measures to the case of multi-group segregation and more recently to the analysis of ordinal segregation, could be the basis for additional approaches to the measurement of economic inequality, in particular inequality in life chances, health and happiness, and eventually also to the study of polarization. Finally because the measurement of spatial segregation is a field in itself, this paper only marginally mentions concepts that have been introduced in this no less fascinating domain.
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