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Formal Institutions and Subjective Well-Being: Revisiting the Cross-Country Evidence

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Author Info
Bjornskov, Christian
Fischer, Justina AV
Dreher, Axel

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Abstract

A long tradition in economics explores the association between the quality of formal institutions and economic performance. The literature on the relationship between such institutions and happiness is, however, rather limited, and inconclusive. In this paper, we revisit the findings from recent cross-country studies on the institutions-happiness association. Our findings suggest that the conclusions reached by previous studies are qualitatively rather insensitive to the specific measure of ‘happiness’ used, while the associations between institutions and subjective well-being differ among poor and rich countries. Separating different types of institutional quality, we find that the effect of economic-judicial institutions on happiness seems to dominate those of political institutions when a sufficient number of developing countries are included in the sample, while analyses restricted to middle- and high-income countries show an additional strong support for a beneficial effect of political institutions. Our results bear important implications which we discuss in the concluding section of the paper. This paper is an update of Bjørnskov, Dreher, Fischer (2008), Formal Institutions and Subjective Well-Being: Revisiting the Cross-Country Evidence, Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 699, Stockholm School of Economics.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number 17159.

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Date of creation: 2008
Date of revision: Jul 2009
Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:17159

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Related research
Keywords: Happiness; life satisfaction; quality of life; institutions; democracy; rule of law; political constraints; policy implications;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General
H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Christian Bjørnskov & Axel Dreher & Justina Fischer, 2008. "Cross-country determinants of life satisfaction: exploring different determinants across groups in society," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 119-173, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Fischer, Justina AV, 2008. "Competition and well-being: does market competition make people unhappy?," Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 697, Stockholm School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. Ovaska, Tomi & Takashima, Ryo, 2006. "Economic policy and the level of self-perceived well-being: An international comparison," The Journal of Socio-Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 308-325, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Witold J. Henisz, 2002. "The institutional environment for infrastructure investment," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 355-389.
  5. Easterlin, Richard A., 1995. "Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 35-47, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Zak, Paul J & Knack, Stephen, 2001. "Trust and Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(470), pages 295-321, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Martin Gassebner & Alexander Keck & Robert Teh, 2006. "Shaken, not stirred: the impact of disasters on international trade," KOF Working papers 06-139, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich. [Downloadable!]
  8. Andrew E. Clark & Andreas Knabe & Steffen Rätzel, 2008. "Unemployment as a Social Norm in Germany," SOEPpapers 132, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). [Downloadable!]
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  9. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2005. "Beyond outcomes: measuring procedural utility," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 90-111, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Khalid Sekkat, 2008. "Institutional Quality And Trade: Which Institutions? Which Trade?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 46(2), pages 227-240, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Toke S. Aidt & Martin Gassebner, 2007. "Do Autocratic States Trade Less?," KOF Working papers 07-175, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Berggren, Niclas, 2003. "The Benefits of Economic Freedom: A Survey," Ratio Working Papers 4, The Ratio Institute. [Downloadable!]
  13. Jakob De Haan & Susanna Lundström & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2006. "Market-oriented institutions and policies and economic growth: A critical survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 20(2), pages 157-191, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Richard Layard, 2006. "Happiness and Public Policy: a Challenge to the Profession," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(510), pages C24-C33, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Rafael Di Tella & Robert J. MacCulloch & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 335-341, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Thomas König, 2001. "Bicameralism and Party Politics in Germany: an Empirical Social Choice Analysis," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 49(3), pages 411-437, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. W. J. Henisz, 2000. "The Institutional Environment for Economic Growth," Economics and Politics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 12(1), pages 1-31, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. David Dorn & Justina Fischer & Gebhard Kirchgässner & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2008. "Direct democracy and life satisfaction revisited: new evidence for Switzerland," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 227-255, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Bjørnskov, Christian & Drehe, Axel & Fischer, Justina A.V., 2008. "On decentralization and life satisfaction," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 147-151, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Edward L. Glaeser & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "Legal Origins," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(4), pages 1193-1229, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Fischer, Justina AV, 2008. "The Welfare Effects of Social Mobility," MPRA Paper 16339, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jun 2009. [Downloadable!]
  2. yamamura, eiji, 2008. "The influence of government size on economic growth and life satisfaction. A case study from Japan," MPRA Paper 10835, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Fischer, Justina AV, 2009. "The Welfare Effects of Social Mobility: An Analysis for OECD countries," MPRA Paper 17070, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  4. Fischer, Justina AV, 2009. "Development of Direct Democracy in Swiss Cantons between 1997 and 2003," MPRA Paper 16140, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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