IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/7488.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unhappy development : dissatisfaction with life on the eve of the Arab spring

Author

Listed:
  • Arampatzi,Efstratia
  • Burger,Martijn
  • Ianchovichina,Elena
  • Röhricht,Tina
  • Veenhoven,Ruut
  • Arampatzi,Efstratia
  • Burger,Martijn
  • Ianchovichina,Elena
  • Röhricht,Tina
  • Veenhoven,Ruut

Abstract

Despite progress in economic and social development in the 2000s, there was an increasing dissatisfaction with life among the population of many developing Arab countries. At the end of the decade, these countries ranked among the least happy economies in the world?a situation that fits the so-called ?unhappy development? paradox. The paradox is defined as declining levels of happiness at a time of moderate-to-rapid economic development. This paper empirically tests the strength of association of a range of objective and subjective factors with life evaluation in the Middle East and North Africa region in the years immediately preceding the Arab Spring uprisings (2009?10). The findings suggest a significant, negative association between life satisfaction levels in the region during this period and each of the main perceived reasons for the 2011 uprisings?dissatisfaction with the standard of living, poor labor market conditions, and corruption.

Suggested Citation

  • Arampatzi,Efstratia & Burger,Martijn & Ianchovichina,Elena & Röhricht,Tina & Veenhoven,Ruut & Arampatzi,Efstratia & Burger,Martijn & Ianchovichina,Elena & Röhricht,Tina & Veenhoven,Ruut, 2015. "Unhappy development : dissatisfaction with life on the eve of the Arab spring," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7488, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7488
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/704681468198531465/pdf/WPS7488.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paolo Verme & Branko Milanovic & Sherine Al-Shawarby & Sahar El Tawila & May Gadallah & Enas Ali A. El-Majeed, 2014. "Inside Inequality in the Arab Republic of Egypt : Facts and Perceptions across People, Time, and Space," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 17583.
    2. Verme, Paolo, 2009. "Happiness, freedom and control," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 146-161, August.
    3. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    4. Farrukh Iqbal & Youssouf Kiendrebeogo, "undated". "The Reduction of Child Mortality in the Middle East and North Africa: A Success Story," Economics Working Papers 20-06/2014, School of Business Administration, American University of Sharjah.
    5. Angel-Urdinola, Diego F. & Kuddo, Arvo, 2010. "Key characteristics of employment regulation in the Middle East and North Africa," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 55674, The World Bank.
    6. World Bank, 2014. "World Development Indicators 2014," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 18237.
    7. Elena I. Ianchovichina & Josef L. Loening & Christina A. Wood, 2014. "How Vulnerable are Arab Countries to Global Food Price Shocks?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(9), pages 1302-1319, September.
    8. E. Arampatzi & M. J. Burger & R. Veenhoven, 2015. "Financial distress and happiness of employees in times of economic crisis," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 173-179, February.
    9. Arthur Lewbel, 2012. "Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 67-80.
    10. Angus Deaton, 2008. "Income, Health, and Well-Being around the World: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 53-72, Spring.
    11. Bruce Headey & Ruut Veenhoven & Alex Wearing, 1991. "Top-down versus bottom-up theories of subjective well-being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 81-100, February.
    12. Rabah Arezki & Markus Brückner, 2011. "Food Prices and Political Instability," CESifo Working Paper Series 3544, CESifo.
    13. Rijkers, Bob & Freund, Caroline & Nucifora, Antonio, 2017. "All in the family: State capture in Tunisia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 41-59.
    14. David Dorn & Justina Fischer & Gebhard Kirchgässner & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2007. "Is It Culture or Democracy? The Impact of Democracy and Culture on Happiness," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 82(3), pages 505-526, July.
    15. Filipe R. Campante & Davin Chor, 2012. "Why Was the Arab World Poised for Revolution? Schooling, Economic Opportunities, and the Arab Spring," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(2), pages 167-188, Spring.
    16. Bruno Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2000. "Happiness Prospers in Democracy," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 79-102, March.
    17. Hassan Gholipour Fereidouni & Youhanna Najdi & Reza Ekhtiari Amiri, 2013. "Do governance factors matter for happiness in the MENA region?," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 40(12), pages 1028 - 1040, November.
    18. Hassan Gholipour Fereidouni & Youhanna Najdi & Reza Ekhtiari Amiri, 2013. "Do governance factors matter for happiness in the MENA region?," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 40(12), pages 1028-1040, October.
    19. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2004. "How Important is Methodology for the estimates of the determinants of Happiness?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(497), pages 641-659, July.
    20. Jan Ott, 2010. "Good Governance and Happiness in Nations: Technical Quality Precedes Democracy and Quality Beats Size," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 353-368, June.
    21. Loening, Josef L., 2011. "Middle East and North Africa Countries' Vulnerability to Commodity Price Increases," MPRA Paper 33393, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gregor Gonza & Anže Burger, 2017. "Subjective Well-Being During the 2008 Economic Crisis: Identification of Mediating and Moderating Factors," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1763-1797, December.
    2. Iddisah Sulemana, 2015. "An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship Between Social Capital and Subjective Well-Being in Ghana," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(5), pages 1299-1321, October.
    3. Carine Meyimdjui, 2017. "Food Price Shocks and Government Expenditure Composition: Evidence from African Countries," Working Papers halshs-01457366, HAL.
    4. Kamal Kasmaoui, 2020. "What makes Moroccans happy: A micro-data study," Working Papers hal-02956855, HAL.
    5. AMENDOLA, Adalgiso & DELL'ANNO, Roberto & PARISI, Lavinia, 2015. "Happiness, Inequality and Relative Concerns in European Countries," CELPE Discussion Papers 136, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.
    6. Nie, Peng & Li, Qiaoge & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2021. "Energy poverty and subjective well-being in China: New evidence from the China Family Panel Studies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    7. Belke, Ansgar & Dreger, Christian, 2013. "The Transmission of Oil and Food Prices to Consumer Prices – Evidence for the MENA Countries," Ruhr Economic Papers 448, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    8. Daniel L. Bennett & Boris Nikolaev, 2017. "Economic Freedom & Happiness Inequality: Friends Or Foes?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(2), pages 373-391, April.
    9. Cordero, José Manuel & Salinas-Jiménez, Javier & Salinas-Jiménez, M Mar, 2017. "Exploring factors affecting the level of happiness across countries: A conditional robust nonparametric frontier analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(2), pages 663-672.
    10. Estela Núñez-Barriopedro & Rafael Ravina-Ripoll & Eduardo Ahumada-Tello, 2020. "Happiness perception in Spain, a SEM approach to evidence from the sociological research center," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 761-779, June.
    11. Hatab, Assem Abu & Hess, Sebastian, 2021. ""Feed the Mouth, the Eye Ashamed": Have Food Prices Triggered Social Unrest in Egypt?," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315082, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Ansgar Belke & Christian Dreger, 2015. "The transmission of oil and food prices to consumer prices," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 143-161, March.
    13. Elvisa Drishti & Zamira Shkreli & Edvin Zhllima & Blendi Gerdoçi, 2023. "Deprivation, Social Mobility Considerations, and Life Satisfaction: A Comparative Study of 33 European Countries," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(3), pages 511-550, September.
    14. Robson Morgan & Kelsey J. O’Connor, 2022. "Labor Market Policy and Subjective Well-Being During the Great Recession," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 391-422, February.
    15. Gründler, Klaus & Krieger, Tommy, 2016. "Democracy and growth: Evidence from a machine learning indicator," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(S), pages 85-107.
    16. Kundu, Srikanta & Kundu, Ruma & Chettri, Kul Bahadur, 2024. "Asymmetric effects of democracy and macroeconomic factors on happiness under high and low per capita incomes: A threshold panel analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    17. Graham, Carol & Zhou, Shaojie & Zhang, Junyi, 2017. "Happiness and Health in China: The Paradox of Progress," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 231-244.
    18. Beja, Edsel Jr., 2011. "Subjective well-being approach to the valuation of income inequality," MPRA Paper 34177, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Burger,Martijn & Hendriks,Martijn & Ianchovichina,Elena, 2022. "Anatomy of Brazil’s Subjective Well-Being : A Tale of Growing Discontent and Polarization in the 2010s," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9924, The World Bank.
    20. repec:zbw:rwirep:0448 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Boris Nikolaev & Daniel L. Bennett, 2020. "Has Economic Growth Made Americans Better Off despite Rising Income Inequality? Evidence from Subjective Well-Being Data," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 35(Fall 2020), pages 63-92.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor Markets; Educational Sciences; Employment and Unemployment; Health Care Services Industry; Rural Labor Markets;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7488. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.