Is the Well-Being of Neighboring Cities Important to Me? Analysis of the Spatial Effect of Social Capital and Urban Amenities in South Korea

Zhe Hong () and In Kwon Park ()
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Zhe Hong: Seoul National University
In Kwon Park: Seoul National University

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2021, vol. 154, issue 1, No 7, 169-190

Abstract: Abstract Much scholarly attention is paid to understanding subjective well-being (SWB) from a spatial perspective. Various features of a city including social capital may have significant impacts on SWB in addition to individual attributes and national characteristics. However, the extant empirical studies of SWB tend to focus on the national- or regional-scale analysis rather than the city-scale analysis. Particularly, few studies inquire into the impacts of social capital and urban amenities on SWB along with the spatial dependence at the city level. This paper aims to examine the spatial effects of social capital and urban characteristics on the SWB of cities. For this purpose, we construct a series of spatial panel models for SWB using data for 219 cities in South Korea, from the Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS) conducted in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. The results show that income, Gini-coefficient, social trust, social networks with friends, participation in charity activities, open space, and cultural opportunities all affect the SWB. Particularly, social capital and open space have spatial spillover effects on the SWB, even after controlling for socio-demographic variables. These findings will not only draw some important policy implications for urban planning and public management to improve the level of urban SWB, but also provide a piece of significant evidence for follow-up studies of its kind.

Keywords: Subjective well-being; Social capital; Urban amenities; Spatial dependence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s11205-020-02542-1

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