Happier Than Them, but More of Them Are Happy:Aggregating Subjective Well-Being

Cristina Sechel ()

No 2019008, Working Papers from The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper proposes the use of headcount-based indicators for the measurement of national Subjective Well-Being (SWB). It provides a methodological contribution to the challenge of threshold selection for headcount measures using Cognitive Dissonance Theory operationalised using life satisfaction data from World/European Values Surveys. A Beta- regression approach is employed to explore the empirical relationships between national SWB and objective measures of well-being contributing to the empirical literature on social indicators. The use of this model is novel in this context. The findings reveal relationships between objective measures of development and SWB that are not apparent when average national SWB is used. For example, I find no significant link between national income and the share of satisfied individuals

Keywords: subjective well-being; cognitive dissonance theory; beta- regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H1 I3 O1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2019-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-hap, nep-ltv and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/economics/research/serps/articles/2019_008 First version, April 2019 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:shf:wpaper:2019008

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