Extreme bounds of subjective well-being: economic development and micro determinants of life satisfaction

Muhammad Bhuiyan () and Radek S. Szulga

Applied Economics, 2017, vol. 49, issue 14, 1351-1378

Abstract: This article presents a global sensitivity analysis of micro determinants of life satisfaction (LS), a subjective well-being (SWB) measure of quality of life, as it relates to economic development. We test 53 micro variables using extreme bound analysis on a pooled cross-section data from the World Value Survey representing 98 countries between 1989 and 2014. Several standard variables frequently included in SWB regressions are controlled for. The test variables are broadly categorized as demographic, personal–economic, individual traits and values, social attitudes and collectivism, social relationships and perceptions of control. We find subjective health status, household income rank, family savings, religiosity, most perceptions of control and several social attitudes and collectivism measures to be universal LS determinants. Generally, the determinants of LS vary by a country’s level of economic development. In particular, we provide suggestive evidence that as countries develop, certain needs are satisfied and stop being important contributors to LS while others take their place.

Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2016.1218426 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:applec:v:49:y:2017:i:14:p:1351-1378

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RAEC20

DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2016.1218426

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Economics is currently edited by Anita Phillips

More articles in Applied Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().