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International evidence on well-being

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  • David G. Blanchflower

Abstract

National Time Accounting is a way of measuring society's well-being, based on time use. Its explicit form is the U-index, for "unpleasant" or "undesirable", which measures the proportion of time an individual spends in an unpleasant state. In this paper I review cross-country evidence on happiness and life satisfaction and consider whether these data will likely be replaced by the U-index. I find that first, that there are many similarities. According to both measures happiness is higher for the more educated, for married people, for those with higher income and for whites and lower for the unemployed; is U-shaped in age and un-trended over time in the USA although they are trended up in a number of EU countries and especially so in developing countries. Equivalent results are found using self-reported unhappiness data. Second, there is a large body of data on happiness that is unavailable on the U-index. For example, according to happiness research well-being across nations is lower the higher is the unemployment rate, the current inflation rate and the highest inflation rate in a person's adult life. Higher inequality also lowers happiness. Third, we know little about the predictive power of the U-index. Happiness and life satisfaction data seem able to forecast migration flows. Fourth, happy people are particularly optimistic about the future. Fifth, according to the happiness data the US ranks above France but the U-index suggests the reverse.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 14318.

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Date of creation: Sep 2008
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Publication status: published as David G. Blanchflower. "International Evidence on Well-Being," in Alan B. Krueger, editor, "Measuring the Subjective Well-Being of Nations: National Accounts of Time Use and Well-Being" University of Chicago Press (2009)
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14318

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References

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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Luca Stanca, 2008. "With or Without You? Measuring the Quality of Relational Life Throughout the World," Working Papers 144, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2008.
  2. Fischer, Justina AV, 2010. "Accounting for Unobserved Country Heterogeneity in Happiness Research: Country Fixed Effects versus Region Fixed Effects," MPRA Paper 22272, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  3. Easterlin, Richard A., 2008. "Lost in Transition: Life Satisfaction on the Road to Capitalism," IZA Discussion Papers 3409, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  4. Steven J. Atlas & Jonathan S. Skinner, 2009. "Education and the Prevalence of Pain," NBER Working Papers 14964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Francesco Sarracino, 2012. "Money, Sociability and Happiness: Are Developed Countries Doomed to Social Erosion and Unhappiness?," Social Indicators Research, Springer, vol. 109(2), pages 135-188, November.
  6. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald & Bert Van Landeghem, 2009. "Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(2-3), pages 528-538, 04-05.
  7. Fischer, Justina AV, 2009. "Happiness and age cycles – return to start…," MPRA Paper 15249, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  8. Angeles, Luis, 2011. "A closer look at the Easterlin Paradox," The Journal of Socio-Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 67-73, February.
  9. Blanchflower, David G. & Lawton, Helen, 2008. "The Impact of the Recent Expansion of the EU on the UK Labour Market," IZA Discussion Papers 3695, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  10. Luca Stanca, 2008. "The Geography of Economics and Happiness," Working Papers 140, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Jun 2008.
  11. Pavel Luengas & Inder J. Ruprah, 2009. "Should Central Banks Target Happiness? Evidence from Latin America," OVE Working Papers 0209, Inter-American Development Bank, Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE).
  12. Ruprah, Inder J. & Luengas, Pavel, 2011. "Monetary policy and happiness: Preferences over inflation and unemployment in Latin America," The Journal of Socio-Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 59-66, February.
  13. SARRACINO Francesco, 2011. "Richer in money, poorer in relationship and unhappy? Time series comparisons of social capital and well-being in Luxembourg," CEPS/INSTEAD Working Paper Series 2011-01, CEPS/INSTEAD.

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