Has transition improved well-being?

In this paper we examine trends in economic well-being in transition countries from 1988 to 2008 to determine whether the populations of transition countries are better off today than prior to the transition process. To do this, we examine economic performance, inequality-adjusted well-being measures, subjective well-being measures, and non-income dimensions of well-being. While for many of the transition countries some indicators of well-being show improvements compared to the pre-transition period, the sharp rise in inequality and low levels of social indicators and subjective well-being suggest that well-being in many countries is similar to, or even below, the levels experienced prior to transition. The only indicators which have shown consistent improvements are measures of political and civil liberties.     

Pain at the pump: Gasoline prices and subjective well-being

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the health implications of rising gasoline prices. This paper considers the impact of gasoline prices on subjective well-being, as captured by survey questions on happiness and life satisfaction. Using rich data from the DDB Worldwide Communications Life Style™ survey, we document a negative relationship between gasoline prices and self-reported life satisfaction over the period 1985–2005. The estimated reduction in well-being, moreover, is found to be nearly twice as large among groups of likely car owners. Interestingly, although rising gasoline prices lead to an immediate deterioration in subjective well-being, analyses of lagged prices suggest that well-being almost fully rebounds 1 year later and changes very little each year thereafter. Our contemporaneous estimates imply that rising gasoline prices generate well-being losses comparable to faltering labor market conditions, and likely offset some of the physical health benefits found in previous research.     

Perceptions of economic insecurity: Evidence from Russia

Economic insecurity is an inherent characteristic of the transition from a planned economy to a market-oriented economy and workers’ assessments of their economic insecurity have direct consequences not only for their happiness/well-being, but also on consumption and saving behavior. This study utilizes data from the nationally representative Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey to study perceptions of economic insecurity among workers in both rural and urban settlements. Analyzing three measures of perceived economic insecurity, we find that perceptions of insecurity were higher when economic conditions were deteriorating (1995–1998), and lower when economic conditions had stabilized (2000–2004). While perceived insecurity varies substantially by worker characteristics–those with less education, women, and unskilled and semi-skilled manual workers feel most vulnerable–, differences in observed characteristics explain a relatively small part of the ruralurban perceptions gap; other factors, such as different rates of economic recovery in rural and urban locales are also important. Individual well-being and household consumption tend to be lower when concerns about economic insecurity are present.     

The dimension,nature and distribution of economic insecurity in European countries: A multidimensional approach

Economic insecurity is a key well-being outcome because the anticipation of future economic distress reveals itself as a true threat to current well-being. Insecurity has been shown to affect quality of life and to change an individual’s consumption, fertility, labor supply and even political support decisions to mitigate risk. This paper provides evidence on the dimension, nature and distribution of economic insecurity for 27 European countries during a whole decade by using a multidimensional individual approach that considers both objective and subjective indicators. The young, the less educated and the unemployed living in households with dependent children have significantly higher levels of economic insecurity everywhere. However, insecurity affects the population in the middle class only in some countries but not in others, and the level of insecurity in liberal regimes is more linked to large income losses than elsewhere. The role of objective versus subjective dimensions is larger in post-transition Eastern European regimes than in long-standing capitalist countries.     

Subjective well-being among blue-collar immigrant employees: A systematic literature review

We present a systematic review of 67 empirical studies that examine the factors determining subjective well-being among blue-collar immigrant employees. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we propose an integrated conceptual framework that organizes antecedents of blue-collar immigrants' subjective well-being based on resource loss and gain dynamics. Our findings indicate that resource loss was most likely when immigrants experienced precarious employment, physically and emotionally demanding jobs, injustice at work, poor living conditions, and migration-related stressors. Conversely, resource gain was most likely when they were supported by supervisors and colleagues at work, felt emotionally supported by friends, family, and community members, and adopted personal coping strategies to manage their stressors. We conclude by signaling opportunities for future research and recommendations for practitioners seeking to augment blue-collar immigrant employees' subjective well-being.     

A microeconometric analysis of housing and life satisfaction among the Vietnamese elderly

This study examines the relationship between housing and subjective well-being among the Vietnamese elderly, using data from the 2011 Vietnam Ageing Survey. Our regression analysis reveals that permanent housing and better amenities are major factors contributing to housing satisfaction and life satisfaction. Notably, we find that housing satisfaction has a strongly positive impact on life satisfaction and the impact is stronger after controlling for endogeneity problems. Thus, the finding confirms that housing is an important life domain and as a result, housing satisfaction is a strong predictor of life-satisfaction judgments. The findings might suggest that people made a rational choice when they invested a large amount of resources in their houses with notable well-being gains. Also, another implication here is that policies and programs to assist poor families in moving out of temporary accommodation or improving housing amenities are likely to be beneficial in improving well-being for the poor elderly.

     

CALCULATING TRAGEDY: ASSESSING THE COSTS OF TERRORISM

Abstract.  The trends and consequences of terrorist activities are often captured by counting the number of incidents and casualties. More recently, the effects of terrorist acts on various aspects of the economy have been analyzed. These costs are surveyed and put in perspective. As economic consequences are only a part of the overall costs of terrorism, possible approaches for estimating the utility losses of the people affected are discussed. Results using the life satisfaction approach, in which individual utility is approximated by self-reported subjective well-being, suggest that people's utility losses may far exceed the purely economic consequences.     

城市规模与居民幸福感的关系

利用2002年中国家庭收入调查数据,实证检验了城市规模与居民主观幸福度的关系。结果显示,二者存在显著的倒U形关系,随着城市规模的扩大,居民主观幸福感先增加,当城市规模达到一定程度,居民主观幸福感将降低。     

基于幸福感视角的北川旅游经济发展研究

影响幸福的因素有很多,例如经济、婚姻、国家政策.但在北川这个经济和人均GDP还不发达的地区,通过发展旅游促进经济发展、提高人民收入仍然是提高当地百姓幸福感的最有效途径.     

Influence of high performance work systems on employee subjective well-being and job burnout: empirical evidence from the Chinese healthcare sector

Over the last two decades, high performance work systems (HPWSs) research has been dominated by examining the effects of these systems on firm performance. Research on the impact of HPWSs on employees has been marginalised. This study examines the impact of HPWSs on two psychological outcomes for employees, namely, subjective well-being (SWB) and workplace burnout, by utilising data collected from 1488 physicians and nurses in 25 Chinese hospitals. It also examines the moderating effects of employees' organisational based self-esteem (OBSE), as an individual intervention and physician–nurse relationships, as an organisational intervention, on the relationship between HPWSs and employee outcomes. HPWS is found to increase employees' SWB and decrease burnout. Such well-being-enhancing and burnout-relieving effects are stronger when employees have high OBSE. The positive effect of HPWS on SWB is also stronger when there is a collaborative relationship among employees in an organisation. The major contribution of this study is to unpack the ‘black box’ of how HPWS influences employee well-being in the Chinese healthcare sector context.     

Economic Activity and Social Indicators: A Rural-Urban Discontinuum?

A bstract . Comparisons of urban and rural areas tend to assume that a rural-urban continuum exists as regards economic and social indicators of well-being and that rural places are fairly homogeneous. Analysis of Kentucky counties indicates that rural-urban differences exist as regards economic well-being and objective social indicators. However, rural-urban differences are not consistent with respect to subjective social indicators; and there are important differences among economic types of rural counties as regards both economic and social indicators. Thus, the rural-urban continuum is not general and it is important to distinguish types of rural counties.     

Which formula for national happiness?

The World Happiness Report is published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and contains an international ranking of national average happiness, as measured by surveys of personal life evaluations. It also contains an analysis which tries to explain the happiness figures from more than 150 countries using data on six key variables. That analysis assumes the factors combine in an additive manner and therefore operate independently of each other. By contrast, we explore a multiplicative model, which allows for interactivity or synergy between factors, as well as the possibility of diminishing marginal benefit at higher levels of achievement. We find that this model provides a better fit to the data and is therefore superior in its explanatory power. The implication for policy-makers is that they should focus on improving those factors which are the lowest for their nation as this will provide greater relative benefits to subjective well-being. At an individual level this means focusing on improving conditions for those who are experiencing the lowest levels of well-being.     

Artistic consumption and well-being: A song of two countries

Efforts are being made to examine how the arts help people reach their full potential and contribute to subjective well-being. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between artistic consumption and consumer well-being. Specifically, consumer motives, represented as emotion regulation, and arts engagement are examined to assess the relationship between arts participation and life satisfaction. This assessment is carried out in 2 countries, the United States and Croatia. Findings from both countries indicate that emotion regulation is positively related to arts engagement. In turn, arts engagement is positively related to arts participation for consumers in both countries. Results, however, diverge for both countries with respect to the influence that artistic consumption has on global life satisfaction. For U.S. consumers, arts participation is positively related to life satisfaction; yet arts participation is not related to satisfaction for Croatian consumers. Implications for the role the arts play in contributing to consumer well-being are discussed.     

Openness,rural-urban inequality,and happiness in China

Although the relationship between income inequality and subjective well-being has been extensively discussed in the literature, relatively little is known about the effects of openness on subjective well-being and how rural-urban inequality may influence these effects. This article attempts to address this issue by using the dataset of the China General Social Survey (CGSS). We find that the effect of trade openness on happiness takes an inverted U shape, whereas that of financial openness is U-shaped. We also find that rural-urban inequality has a dampening effect on happiness, and this effect is strengthened by trade openness but weakened by financial openness. These findings extend previous studies on the determinants of happiness by highlighting the different effects associated with trade openness and financial openness and how these effects may interact with rural-urban inequality.     

Work and social well-being: the impact of employment conditions on quality of life

This paper aims to extend our understanding of the impact of management practises and employment conditions in the contemporary workplace on the broader social realm. The study provides an analytic account of how these employment conditions impact on the social well-being of a representative sample of individuals and households. We assess the propensity of working arrangements that are manifested in various high performance work systems either to enhance or to diminish quality of life. The paper indicates that certain management practises and employment conditions have impacts that extend beyond the workplace and influence the broader well-being of individuals and families.     

The effect of urbanization on subjective well-being: Explaining cross-regional differences

Today, more than ever, it is becoming evident that cities and regions are crucial for the achievement of human well-being. In this perspective, the analysis of the effect of urbanization on subjective well-being at sub-national level is an issue of great relevance. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of urbanization on SWB at the regional level and, in particular, the moderator effect of the regional context in influencing this effect in Italy and Spain. From a methodological point of view, we apply a two-step approach as a graphical method, which allows us to consider individual and regional information in our analysis. Our findings indicate that urbanization significantly affects subjective well-being, especially in various regions of Italy. This cross-regional heterogeneity can be explained by different regional factors, which supports the idea that regional contexts can exert effects on achieving future people's well-being in cities.     

Local tax interaction and endogenous spatial weights based on quality of life

This paper studied the role of municipal quality of life as a driver of strategic tax interactions among local governments. A number of studies point out the existence of strategic interactions using spatial econometric models in which the spatial weights are mostly based on non-economic criteria or basic economic variables such as per capita gross domestic product (GDP). We propose the more sophisticated well-being indicator of municipal quality of life as the driver for these interactions. To deal with the potential endogeneity, we rely on instrumental variable estimators. The empirical analysis focuses on the main local tax in Spain (property) and on municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, and it confirms the relevance of differentials in quality of life for the understanding of tax choices.     

Subjective well-being among the elderly: A bibliometric analysis

Demographic trends have stimulated interest in empirical research on subjective well-being among the elderly. Despite the steep increase in published articles, no one has yet provided a summarized review of the scientific landscape. With this article, we aim to fill this research gap by providing a bibliometric analysis of the field. We do so by collecting a broad dataset of publication data from 1961 to 2016 found on the Web of Science webpage. By combining quantitative scientometric methods, as well as qualitative methods, we were able to provide a historic context of research on subjective well-being among the elderly and distinguish the most important articles, authors, journals, organizations and countries in the field. We found a big leap in research on subjective well-being among the elderly in the last 10 years, as well as a substantial globalization of the field. Although research on subjective well-being among the elderly has clear antecedents, we expect the field to further increase and mature due to more scholars from different braches of science joining the conversation.