Abstract

 
 
 The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between different forms of social capital and subjective well-being in Malaysia. Subjective well-being is observed based on two aspects: happiness and life satisfaction. The analysis using data from the World Value Survey with 1300 respondents. Based on the ordered probit regression analysis, it is found that bonding and linking social capital contribute to happiness. Happiness also increases for those who are more active in associations. However, bridging social capital based on trust of people from other religion and ethnic group as well as people whom an individual does not know have adverse contribution to happiness. Only linking social capital has a positive relationship with life satisfaction. In terms of religiosity, importance of God seems to have positive relationship with both happiness and life satisfaction. Other factors such as health status, income, marital status and education also have the influence on Malaysians’ happiness and life satisfaction levels.
 
 
Highlights
Earlier studies on economics of happiness focused on relationship between income and happiness
Even though happiness and life satisfaction are sometimes used interchangeably to represent subjective well being, in Malaysia we found that different factors could influence them
This study shows that different types of social capital have different influence on happiness and life satisfaction
Summary
Earlier studies on economics of happiness focused on relationship between income and happiness. It is stated that all the top ten happiest countries are among the countries which have highest income. This outcome brings to a positive correlation between income and happiness. As propagated by Easterlin (1974, 1995), the levels of well-being do not seem to be increasing with the increase of income, which is known as the “Easterlin Paradox”. It concludes that economic growth is positively related to well-being only in short term
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