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Does solar activity affect human happiness?

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  • Kristoufek, Ladislav

Abstract

We investigate the direct influence of solar activity (represented by sunspot numbers) on human happiness (represented by the Twitter-based Happiness Index). We construct four models controlling for various statistical and dynamic effects of the analyzed series. The final model gives promising results. First, there is a statistically significant negative influence of solar activity on happiness which holds even after controlling for the other factors. Second, the final model, which is still rather simple, explains around 75% of variance of the Happiness Index. Third, our control variables contribute significantly as well: happiness is higher in no sunspots days, happiness is strongly persistent, there are strong intra-week cycles and happiness peaks during holidays. Our results strongly contribute to the topical literature and they provide evidence of unique utility of the online data.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristoufek, Ladislav, 2018. "Does solar activity affect human happiness?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 493(C), pages 47-53.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:493:y:2018:i:c:p:47-53
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2017.10.031
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