The Geography of Economics and Happiness

Luca Stanca

No 140, Working Papers from University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper investigates the spatial pattern of the e®ects of eco- nomic conditions on subjective well-being, using a large sample of in- dividuals from 81 countries throughout the world. We ¯nd evidence of substantial spatial heterogeneity and spatial dependence in the cross- country distribution of the e®ects of income and unemployment on happiness. We examine the impact of macroeconomic conditions on country-level sensitivities of subjective well-being to microeconomic conditions. The e®ect of income on well-being is found to be signif- icantly stronger in countries with lower GDP per capita and higher unemployment rate. The e®ect of unemployment on well-being is in- stead signi¯cantly stronger in countries with higher GDP per capita and higher unemployment rate.

Keywords: subjective well-being; economic geography; spatial econometrics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 D12 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2008-06, Revised 2008-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-hap, nep-ltv, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mib:wpaper:140

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