Abstract
Despite being on average a relatively happy country, Colombia has a high level of inequality in subjective well-being (SWB). Using Gallup World Poll data for the period from 2010 to 2018, this paper tests the direction and strength of association of a range of objective and subjective factors with SWB and explains differences in SWB across individuals and space. The perceived welfare of the average Colombian is mainly influenced by conditions and expectations related to economic opportunities and education. However, quantile regressions, reveal substantial differences in the domains that matter to those at the bottom and top of the experienced welfare distribution. Standard-of-living improvements, housing affordability, and civic engagement matter more to the most fortunate top 20%, while having education, a job, sufficient income, economic security, and digital connectivity are much more strongly associated with the well-being of the bottom 20%. The life domains that matter more to the unhappiest respondents also explain the majority of the spatial differences in perceived welfare between residents in urban and rural areas as well as core and peripheral regions. Policy actions aimed at closing the gaps in these areas have the potential to increase well-being and reduce inequality in Colombia.
Highlights
Since 1971, when the king of Bhutan proclaimed that ‘Gross National Happiness’ is more important than ‘Gross Domestic Product’, the idea that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country is an insufficient measure to accurately track quality-oflife changes within a country has gained international support
This section discusses the results from different specifications of the main life satisfaction regression model (1), the quantile regressions which allow us to identify the correlates associated with subjective well-being (SWB) differences along the distribution, and the results from the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition which allow us to identify the factors correlated with differences in SWB across space
It is not surprising that the association between religiousness and SWB diminishes when controlling for economic optimism, social support, and civic engagement
Summary
Since 1971, when the king of Bhutan proclaimed that ‘Gross National Happiness’ is more important than ‘Gross Domestic Product’, the idea that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country is an insufficient measure to accurately track quality-oflife changes within a country has gained international support. Krauss and Graham (2013) examine SWB and differences in SWB in Colombia using data on Cantril Ladder scores for 2010 and 2011 from the Latin America Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) They find that economic factors, including income, unemployment, and education, and economic policy instruments such as pension or health plans – which help to counteract economic insecurity – have a strong and significant association with SWB. To assess the influence of public policy outcomes on SWB we include a number of subjective domains measuring satisfaction with the quality of the environment (air and water), public services (transportation, road infrastructure, health care), personal freedom, social mobility and efforts to fight poverty, as well as perceptions of housing affordability, safety, corruption, and national institutions. The unexplained part (U) captures omitted variables as well as changes in the relevance of the estimated coefficients for A and B, respectively
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