Rojas The Economics of Happiness

How the Easterlin Paradox Transformed Our Understanding of Well-Being and Progress
1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-3-030-15835-4
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 489 Seiten

Reihe: Economics and Finance

This book presents a panoramic view of the implications from Richard Easterlin's groundbreaking work on happiness and economics. Contributions in the book show the relevance of the Easterlin Paradox to main areas, such as the relationship between income and happiness, the relationship between economic growth and well-being, conceptions of progress and development, design and evaluation of policies for well-being, and the use of happiness research to address welfare economics issues.  This book is unique in the sense that it gathers contributions from senior and top researchers in the economics of happiness, whom have played a central role in the consolidation of happiness economics, as well as promising young scholars, showing the current dynamism and consolidation of happiness economics.

Mariano Rojas is Professor of Economics at Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Sede México and at Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, Mexico. He holds a Ph.D in economics from The Ohio State University, United States. His areas of research are: Subjective Well-Being, Happiness, Quality of Life, Poverty Studies, Economic Development and Social Progress. He was the President of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies, which is the largest and oldest academic Society addressing the issues of quality of life, happiness and well-being. He has published the books entitled The Scientific Study of Happiness (Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico) and Can the Economy provide Happiness? (RBA, Spain). Mariano Rojas also edited the Handbook of Happiness Research in Latin America (Springer) and co-edited the Global Handbook of Quality of Life: Exploration of Well-Being of Nations and Continents (Springer). He has published more than 100 academic papers and book chapters, mostly about happiness-related issues. Mariano Rojas also coordinated the Mexican Initiative Measuring the Progress of Societies: A Perspective from Mexico, which aimed to make a contribution from Latin America to the global discussion on new ways of conceiving and measuring social performance and progress. He has edited many books dealing with paradigm shift in the notion of social progress, such as: The Measurement of Progress and Well-Being; Proposals from Latin America.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rojas, Mariano

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Foreword: Happiness or GDP?;5
2;Contents;9
3;Contributors;11
4;List of Figures;14
5;List of Tables;21
6;Part I: Introduction;25
6.1;Chapter 1: The Relevance of Richard A. Easterlin´s Groundbreaking Work. A Historical Perspective;26
6.1.1;1.1 The Historical Context;28
6.1.1.1;1.1.1 Early Economists Were Interested in Happiness;28
6.1.1.2;1.1.2 Early Economists Followed the Ethical Tradition When Addressing Happiness;29
6.1.1.3;1.1.3 Jeremy Bentham and Happiness as an Experience People Have;29
6.1.1.4;1.1.4 Utilitarianism Gets into Economics;30
6.1.1.5;1.1.5 Economics Focuses on Explaining Choice While Marginalizing People´s Happiness;31
6.1.1.6;1.1.6 The Emphasis on Consumption. The Realm of Objects;32
6.1.1.7;1.1.7 Progress as Economic Growth. The Increasing Relevance of GDP;33
6.1.1.8;1.1.8 Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Doubts Existed;34
6.1.2;1.2 Groundbreaking Work by Richard A. Easterlin;36
6.1.2.1;1.2.1 Richard A. Easterlin: Pioneer in Happiness Research;36
6.1.2.2;1.2.2 The Empirical Evidence: The Easterlin Paradox;37
6.1.2.3;1.2.3 Immediate Impact of Easterlin´s Research;38
6.1.3;1.3 The Economics of Happiness;39
6.1.3.1;1.3.1 Happiness Is Back into Economics;39
6.1.3.2;1.3.2 People´s Reports Provide Useful Information Not Available Everywhere;39
6.1.3.3;1.3.3 The Importance of Subjectivity;40
6.1.3.4;1.3.4 The Person as Authority to Judge Her Life;41
6.1.3.5;1.3.5 Working with Concrete Human Beings;41
6.1.3.6;1.3.6 New Directions in Welfare Economics;42
6.1.3.7;1.3.7 On the Notion of Progress;43
6.1.3.8;1.3.8 Doing Research on Happiness;44
6.1.4;1.4 The Following Chapters;44
6.1.5;General References;45
7;Part II: Income and Happiness;48
7.1;Chapter 2: Different Versions of the Easterlin Paradox: New Evidence for European Countries;49
7.1.1;2.1 Introduction;50
7.1.2;2.2 State of the Debate;54
7.1.3;2.3 Estimation Strategy;56
7.1.3.1;2.3.1 Estimation Equations for Testing the Country-Group Variants of the Easterlin Paradox;56
7.1.3.2;2.3.2 Estimation Equations for Testing the Individual-Country Variants of the Easterlin Paradox;59
7.1.4;2.4 Data and Descriptive Statistics;61
7.1.5;2.5 Results;63
7.1.5.1;2.5.1 Results for Groups of Countries;63
7.1.5.2;2.5.2 Results for Individual Countries;69
7.1.6;2.6 Conclusions;74
7.1.7;References;75
7.2;Chapter 3: Lottery Wins and Satisfaction: Overturning Brickman in Modern Longitudinal Data on Germany;78
7.2.1;3.1 Introduction;78
7.2.2;3.2 Summary of the Main Lottery Literature;79
7.2.3;3.3 New Empirical Evidence on the Link Between Lottery Wins and Wellbeing;95
7.2.3.1;3.3.1 Data;95
7.2.3.2;3.3.2 The Sample of Winners;97
7.2.3.3;3.3.3 The Decision to Play;98
7.2.4;3.4 Econometric Specification and Results;100
7.2.4.1;3.4.1 Life Satisfaction and Lottery Participation;101
7.2.4.2;3.4.2 Winning in the Lottery and Satisfaction with Income;102
7.2.4.3;3.4.3 Winning in the Lottery and Life Satisfaction;103
7.2.5;3.5 Summary and Conclusions;104
7.2.6;References;104
7.3;Chapter 4: Relative Income, Subjective Wellbeing and the Easterlin Paradox: Intra- and Inter-national Comparisons;106
7.3.1;4.1 Introduction;106
7.3.2;4.2 Related Literature and Methodology;108
7.3.2.1;4.2.1 Life Satisfaction and Subjective Wellbeing;108
7.3.2.2;4.2.2 Easterlin Paradox;108
7.3.2.3;4.2.3 Rural Versus Urban Life Satisfaction;109
7.3.2.4;4.2.4 Methodology;110
7.3.3;4.3 Data;112
7.3.4;4.4 Results;117
7.3.5;4.5 Conclusions;122
7.3.6;References;124
7.4;Chapter 5: Relative Income and Happiness in Latin America: Implications for Inequality Debates;127
7.4.1;5.1 Introduction;127
7.4.2;5.2 Literature Review;129
7.4.2.1;5.2.1 Absolute Income in Economic Theory;129
7.4.2.2;5.2.2 Relative Income in Economic Theory;130
7.4.2.3;5.2.3 Reference Groups: Sociological Theories;131
7.4.2.4;5.2.4 Relative Income and Happiness;131
7.4.2.5;5.2.5 Methodological Issues in the Study of Relative Income;132
7.4.2.6;5.2.6 Relative Income and Economic Policy;133
7.4.3;5.3 The Database;134
7.4.3.1;5.3.1 The Gallup Survey;134
7.4.3.2;5.3.2 The Information;134
7.4.3.3;5.3.3 Reference-Group Construction: Country, Age and Gender;136
7.4.4;5.4 Relative Income and Well-being;136
7.4.4.1;5.4.1 Estimating the Impact of Reference Income;136
7.4.4.2;5.4.2 The Importance of Absolute and Relative Income;138
7.4.4.3;5.4.3 Asymmetric Comparisons;139
7.4.5;5.5 Final Considerations;141
7.4.5.1;5.5.1 Main Findings;141
7.4.5.2;5.5.2 Findings´ Implications;142
7.4.6;Appendix;143
7.4.7;References;144
8;Part III: Happiness in Welfare Economics;147
8.1;Chapter 6: Does Happiness Improve Welfare Economics a Lot?;148
8.1.1;6.1 Introduction;148
8.1.2;6.2 Exposing a Hidden Truth: Incongruences of Orthodox Welfare Analysis in Economics;149
8.1.3;6.3 Happiness Forcing Its Way Amidst the Mainstream and the Capabilities Approach;153
8.1.3.1;6.3.1 Mainstream Welfare Analysis;153
8.1.3.1.1;6.3.1.1 Tools Based on the Rhetoric of Ordinal UtilityThe tools analyzed here are usually conceived of as operational under or...;154
8.1.3.1.2;6.3.1.2 Theorems;155
8.1.3.1.3;6.3.1.3 Social Decision Rules;156
8.1.3.1.4;6.3.1.4 Tools for Applied WE;157
8.1.4;6.4 The Capabilities Critique;160
8.1.5;6.5 Happiness: Accepting Subjectivity in Welfare Economic Analysis;163
8.1.6;6.6 The Policy Issue: Happiness is Different from Capabilities and the Mainstream;165
8.1.6.1;6.6.1 Freedom;168
8.1.6.2;6.6.2 Income;169
8.1.7;6.7 Conclusion;171
8.1.8;References;172
8.2;Chapter 7: Why the Easterlin Paradox? The Scitovsky Hypothesis;176
8.2.1;7.1 Introduction;176
8.2.2;7.2 The Easterlin Paradox and the Open Issues;177
8.2.2.1;7.2.1 The Two Versions of the `Easterlin ParadoxEasterlin Paradox´;177
8.2.2.2;7.2.2 Easterlin´s Explanation of the Paradox;179
8.2.3;7.3 Scitovsky´s Hypothesis;180
8.2.3.1;7.3.1 Scitovsky´s Own Discovery of the Paradox;180
8.2.3.2;7.3.2 Scitovsky´s Explanation of the Paradox;181
8.2.3.3;7.3.3 What Scitovsky Added to Easterlin´s Explanation of the Paradox;182
8.2.4;7.4 Some Supporting Evidence from the Literature;183
8.2.5;7.5 Conclusions;186
8.2.6;References;186
8.3;Chapter 8: Homo Economicus and Happiness: Towards More Sustainable Development;190
8.3.1;8.1 Introduction;190
8.3.2;8.2 Growth: Homo Economicus and the Focus on Income;192
8.3.3;8.3 Individual Level: Individual and Corporate Sustainability;196
8.3.4;8.4 Societal Level: Global Sustainable Development;201
8.3.5;8.5 Summary and Outlook;205
8.3.6;References;206
9;Part IV: Applications of Happiness in Economics;211
9.1;Chapter 9: Distaste for Inequality? The Role of Risk Aversion;212
9.1.1;9.1 Introduction and Background;212
9.1.2;9.2 Empirical Strategy;214
9.1.2.1;9.2.1 The Model and Its Estimation;214
9.1.2.2;9.2.2 Measuring Strategy;216
9.1.2.2.1;9.2.2.1 Life Satisfaction;216
9.1.2.2.2;9.2.2.2 Risk Attitudes;217
9.1.2.2.3;9.2.2.3 Are Risk Changes Endogenous to Life Events and Individual Characteristics?;218
9.1.2.2.4;9.2.2.4 Inequality: The Gini Coefficient;218
9.1.2.3;9.2.3 The Data;219
9.1.3;9.3 Results;221
9.1.3.1;9.3.1 The Effect of Inequality on Satisfaction;221
9.1.3.2;9.3.2 The Role of Risk on Shaping Inequality Dislike;222
9.1.3.3;9.3.3 Robustness Analysis;223
9.1.3.4;9.3.4 Heterogeneous Effects;225
9.1.4;9.4 Conclusions;227
9.1.5;Appendix;228
9.1.6;References;230
9.2;Chapter 10: Advertising as a Major Source of Human Dissatisfaction: Cross-National Evidence on One Million Europeans;233
9.2.1;10.1 Introduction;234
9.2.2;10.2 Results;235
9.2.3;10.3 Conclusions;243
9.2.4;Appendix on Data and Methods;253
9.2.5;References;254
9.3;Chapter 11: What Makes for a Good Job? Evidence Using Subjective Wellbeing Data;256
9.3.1;11.1 Introduction;257
9.3.2;11.2 Data and Methods;258
9.3.3;11.3 Results;259
9.3.3.1;11.3.1 Pay;260
9.3.3.2;11.3.2 Working Hours;265
9.3.3.3;11.3.3 Working Hours Mismatch;266
9.3.3.4;11.3.4 Work-Life Balance;267
9.3.3.5;11.3.5 Skills Match;269
9.3.3.6;11.3.6 Job Security;270
9.3.3.7;11.3.7 Difficulty, Stress, Danger;270
9.3.3.8;11.3.8 Opportunities for Advancement;271
9.3.3.9;11.3.9 Independence;271
9.3.3.10;11.3.10 Interesting Job;273
9.3.3.11;11.3.11 Interpersonal Relationships;273
9.3.3.12;11.3.12 Usefulness;275
9.3.4;11.4 Discussion;277
9.3.5;References;280
10;Part V: Happiness in Development;284
10.1;Chapter 12: Unhappiness as an Engine of Economic Growth;285
10.1.1;12.1 Introduction;285
10.1.2;12.2 Disquieting Trends;287
10.1.2.1;12.2.1 Declining Subjective Well-being;287
10.1.2.2;12.2.2 Declining Objective Well-being;288
10.1.2.3;12.2.3 Declining Social Capital;290
10.1.2.4;12.2.4 Soaring Materialism and Social Comparisons;291
10.1.2.5;12.2.5 Overwork;292
10.1.3;12.3 Defensive Growth;293
10.1.3.1;12.3.1 Defensive Growth in Developing Countries;295
10.1.3.2;12.3.2 The Key Equations of Defensive Growth;296
10.1.4;12.4 Evidence of Defensive Growth;297
10.1.4.1;12.4.1 Envying Alone;297
10.1.4.2;12.4.2 Socially Rich Countries have Low Well-being Inequality;299
10.1.4.3;12.4.3 Work Hours and US-Europe Differences;300
10.1.5;12.5 US: Loneliness, Fear and Ill-Being as Drivers of Growth;301
10.1.5.1;12.5.1 The Industry of Fear: Security and Social Control;301
10.1.5.2;12.5.2 The Industry of Economic Segregation: Urban Sprawl;303
10.1.5.3;12.5.3 The Industry of Malaise: Healthcare;303
10.1.5.4;12.5.4 Troubled Lives, Troubled Health;305
10.1.6;12.6 Policies for Social Capital;306
10.1.7;12.7 Conclusion;308
10.1.8;References;309
10.2;Chapter 13: Keynes´ Grandchildren and Easterlin´s Paradox: What Is Keeping Us from Reducing Our Working Hours?;316
10.2.1;13.1 Introduction;316
10.2.2;13.2 Secular Trends in Working Hours: Evidence and Explanations;318
10.2.3;13.3 Easterlin´s Paradox;320
10.2.4;13.4 Relative Income, Hedonic Adaptation and Working Time;322
10.2.5;13.5 Explaining Labor Supply in Terms of Income and Substitution Effects;324
10.2.6;13.6 Conclusion;328
10.2.7;References;329
10.3;Chapter 14: Using Well-Being Metrics to Assess Social Well-Being and Ill-Being: Lessons from Rising Mortality Rates in the Uni...;331
10.3.1;14.1 Introduction;332
10.3.1.1;14.1.1 Existing Studies;332
10.3.2;14.2 Data and Empirical Specification;334
10.3.3;14.3 Baseline Results and Interpretation;337
10.3.3.1;14.3.1 Results;337
10.3.3.2;14.3.2 Discussion;348
10.3.3.3;14.3.3 Alternative Specifications Across Race and Rural Areas;352
10.3.4;14.4 Do Desperation and Premature Mortality Go Together? An Initial Exploration;352
10.3.5;14.5 Interrelated Trends and Explanations;358
10.3.5.1;14.5.1 The Role of Place;360
10.3.6;14.6 Conclusions and Potential Policies;362
10.3.7;References;364
10.4;Chapter 15: When Does Economic Growth Improve Well-Being?;366
10.4.1;15.1 Introduction;366
10.4.2;15.2 Easterlin Paradox and Beyond;367
10.4.2.1;15.2.1 Defensive Growth;369
10.4.3;15.3 Conditions for a Happy Growth;370
10.4.3.1;15.3.1 Cross-Country Studies;370
10.4.3.2;15.3.2 Within Country Studies;375
10.4.4;15.4 Conclusion;377
10.4.5;References;379
10.5;Chapter 16: The Subjective Well-Being Political Paradox: Evidence from Latin America;382
10.5.1;16.1 Introduction;382
10.5.2;16.2 Background;384
10.5.3;16.3 Methods;386
10.5.3.1;16.3.1 Data;386
10.5.3.2;16.3.2 Measures;386
10.5.3.2.1;16.3.2.1 Dependent Variables;386
10.5.3.2.1.1;Political Orientation;387
10.5.3.2.1.2;Additional Measures;387
10.5.3.3;16.3.3 Analytical Strategy;389
10.5.4;16.4 Results;389
10.5.5;16.5 Discussion and Conclusion;391
10.5.6;References;393
11;Part VI: Happiness Along the Life Course and the Social Context;396
11.1;Chapter 17: Born to Be Mild? Cohort Effects Don´t (Fully) Explain Why Well-Being Is U-Shaped in Age;397
11.1.1;17.1 Introduction;397
11.1.2;17.2 Cohort or Life-Cycle?;399
11.1.2.1;17.2.1 Data;400
11.1.3;17.3 Well-Being and Age: Pooled and Panel Results;402
11.1.3.1;17.3.1 Well-Being and Age in Pooled Data;402
11.1.3.2;17.3.2 Test 1: Does the U-Shape Move to the Right by One Year Per Survey Wave?;403
11.1.3.3;17.3.3 Test 2: Introducing Individual Fixed Effects;406
11.1.3.4;17.3.4 Interpreting the Results;409
11.1.3.5;17.3.5 What Should We Control For?;411
11.1.3.6;17.3.6 Is Everyone the Same?;412
11.1.4;17.4 Conclusion;412
11.1.5;Appendices;413
11.1.5.1;Appendix A;413
11.1.5.2;Appendix B;414
11.1.5.3;Appendix C;415
11.1.6;References;416
11.2;Chapter 18: Happiness Amongst Teens in Australia;419
11.2.1;18.1 Introduction;419
11.2.1.1;18.1.1 The Literature on the Happiness of Children Versus Adults;421
11.2.2;18.2 Data and Survey Method;424
11.2.2.1;18.2.1 The HILDA Data;424
11.2.2.2;18.2.2 Collecting Data from Children;424
11.2.2.3;18.2.3 Survey Questions;425
11.2.2.3.1;18.2.3.1 The Happiness Question;425
11.2.2.3.2;18.2.3.2 Demographic Questions;425
11.2.2.3.3;18.2.3.3 Personality;426
11.2.2.3.4;18.2.3.4 The Life Satisfaction Domain Measures;427
11.2.3;18.3 Analyses;427
11.2.3.1;18.3.1 Summary Statistics;427
11.2.3.2;18.3.2 Extending Our View of Happiness over a Lifetime;429
11.2.3.3;18.3.3 The Determinants of Life Satisfaction;430
11.2.3.4;18.3.4 Decomposing Changes in Life Satisfaction;432
11.2.4;18.4 Conclusions and Discussion;436
11.2.5;Appendices;438
11.2.5.1;Appendix A: Survey Questions;438
11.2.5.2;Appendix B: Descriptive Statistics;440
11.2.5.3;Appendix C: Regression Results;442
11.2.6;References;444
11.3;Chapter 19: Do Humans Suffer a Psychological Low in Midlife? Two Approaches (With and Without Controls) in Seven Data Sets;448
11.3.1;19.1 Introduction;449
11.3.2;19.2 Analysis;450
11.3.2.1;19.2.1 Europe (Eurobarometer Data);454
11.3.2.2;19.2.2 Europe (ESS Data);455
11.3.2.3;19.2.3 Multi-country (ISSP Data);456
11.3.2.4;19.2.4 USA (GSS Data);457
11.3.2.5;19.2.5 Multi-country (Latino Barometer Data);458
11.3.3;19.3 Discussion;459
11.3.4;19.4 Conclusions;460
11.3.5;Appendix;461
11.3.6;References;461
11.4;Chapter 20: Happiness at Different Ages: The Social Context Matters;463
11.4.1;20.1 Introduction;464
11.4.2;20.2 Assessing the U-Shape Consequences of the Workplace Social Context;466
11.4.3;20.3 The U-Shape Is Flatter for Those Who Are Married;475
11.4.4;20.4 Assessing the Combined Effects of the Social Context at Work and at Home;479
11.4.5;20.5 The U-Shape Is Also Flatter for Those Who Have Lived Longer in Their Communities;483
11.4.6;20.6 Conclusion;487
11.4.7;References;488