The Relationship between Happiness, Health and Socio-economic Factors: Results Based on Swedish Micro Data

Gerdtham, Ulf-G () and Magnus Johannesson ()
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Gerdtham, Ulf-G: Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics, Postal: P.O. Box 6501, S-113 83 Stockholm, Sweden

No 207, Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance from Stockholm School of Economics

Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between happiness (utility) and a host of socio-economic variables. The data set consists of a random sample of over 5,000 individuals from the Swedish adult population. Happiness is measured by a three-point categorical measure of overall happiness (not happy, happy sometimes, happy most of the time), and an ordered probit model is used to econometrically estimate the happiness equation. The results are consistent with the theoretical predictions and show that happiness increases with income and education and decreases with unemployment, urbanisation, being single, and male gender. The relationship between age and happiness is U-shaped, with happiness being lowest in the age-group 45-64.

Keywords: Happiness; utility; health; socioeconomic factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D60 I12 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: Written
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Related works:
Journal Article: The relationship between happiness, health, and socio-economic factors: results based on Swedish microdata (2001)
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