Happiness Inequality Research Articles

Temporality and delayed models as dynamic characteristics of happiness

The subject of the study is the dynamic characteristics of happiness. The theoretical aspects of highlighting the context of temporality in happiness research are highlighted. The importance of time perspective for understanding happiness as a sociocultural phenomenon, as well as subjective well-being, is considered. The characteristics of delayed models of happiness are highlighted, influencing the perception of current life as an approach to a happier future. The empirical basis of the study is the results of a sociological study of Russian residents aged 18-60 years (n=1170) using an online survey conducted in September 2024 in capital cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg), the regional center (Ekaterinburg) and cities of the Sverdlovsk region. The novelty of the study lies in the identification and comparison of subjective assessments of happiness in a time perspective, past – present – future, which made it possible to identify an inclined trajectory of assessment of subjective well-being. The assessment of life satisfaction as a whole is shown to shift to lower levels in comparison with the assessment of current happiness. A contradiction has been revealed between the expectation of a better future and the uncertainty in its implementation. The use of a generational approach made it possible to fix temporality in the context of the influence of age and life experience on the perception of happiness, generational inequality of happiness and the convergence of assessments of chronic and current happiness with increasing age. Prospects for research on the topic are identified related to the insufficiency of quantitative measurement of the dynamic characteristics of happiness and the possibilities of identifying narratives in describing the temporality of the life experience of happiness, including its deferred models.

Inferring inequality: Testing for median-preserving spreads in ordinal data

. The median-preserving spread (MPS) ordering for ordinal variables has become ubiquitous in the inequality literature. We devise statistical tests of the hypothesis that a distribution G is not an MPS of a distribution F. Rejecting this hypothesis enables the conclusion that G is more unequal than F according to the MPS criterion. Monte Carlo simulations and novel graphical techniques show that a simple, asymptotic Z test is sufficient for most applications. We illustrate our tests with two applications: happiness inequality in the US and self-assessed health in Europe.

부패가 행복과 행복불평등에 미치는 영향

The aim of this paper is to urge the seriousness of anti-corruption in accomplishing happiness and an equally happy society. Based on the literature review, this paper wind up with a research hypothesis and analysed statistical verification. The data used in the anlaysis were from the diverse organizations, such as the World Happiness Report, UNESCO, World Bank and ILO. This study analyzed 680 joined data of 112 countries, ranging from 2009 to 2018. The paper executed a fixed-effect panel analysis to control endogenous problems within unobserved values. This study concludes that the greater the corruption, the lower the happiness and the higher the happiness inequality among 112 countries. From this results, the paper emphasized practical and political procedures to solve out corruption.

Happiness and happiness inequality in Azerbaijan: Results with the single-item and multiple-item constructs

This paper compares the performance of the single-item (a 1-10 scale) and multiple-item constructs (Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), 5-item and 7-item life domain scales) employed to measure happiness and happiness inequality based on the same survey data. Using a cross-sectional dataset of 2208 respondents from Azerbaijan, the study examines the reliability and validity of each scale. Further, it discusses the scales’ predicted happiness and happiness inequality indicators within the aggregate sample and sub-samples of specific socio-demographic groups. The research results confirm the reliability and validity of multiple-item constructs. In fact, there is a strong positive correlation between all the examined constructs of happiness. Interestingly, the mean happiness predicted by the single-item, SWLS, 5-item, and 7-item life domain scales does not vary much. The mean happiness percentage of the highest score in each construct varies within [50.8%; 62.1%] for the aggregate sample. SWLS’s happiness prediction is lower than that of others by 7-11 percentage points, followed by the 5-item life domain scale and the single-item scale. The happiness prediction difference between the single-item construct and the 7-item life domain scale is negligible. In terms of predicting happiness inequality, the 7-item life domain scale displays the least dispersion as per both standard deviation and coefficient of variation indicators. Conversely, the single-item construct yields the largest variability. Research findings are consistent regardless of age groups, gender identity, educational attainment level, marital status, employment status, and residential area. The overall recommendation is to use a multiple-item life domains scale to measure happiness and happiness inequality in a society, as it offers a broader perspective for using happiness research findings in improving public policy efficiency.

Shedding new light on happiness inequality via unconditional quantile regression: The case of Japan under the Covid-19 crisis

Shedding new light on happiness inequality via unconditional quantile regression: The case of Japan under the Covid-19 crisis

Happiness Inequality in Post-Socialist Countries during Neoliberal Transition

Abstract Both average levels of happiness and its distribution have dramatically changed with neoliberal transition in post-socialist countries that have been marked by chronic unhappiness. This study aims to describe the distribution of happiness by showing its levels and trajectories, and investigates the factors explaining it. The descriptive and multivariate statistical analysis were conducted by using cross-national survey data and a dataset covering country indicators. The findings show an inverse V-shaped pattern for changes in happiness inequality, although there are notable differences between individual countries. Income inequality explains cross-national differences in distribution of happiness during the first intensive reform years. However, objective health status and social trust are the most important predictors in explaining happiness inequality in consolidation and convergence periods.

Happiness inequality has a Kuznets-style relation with economic growth in China

Happiness studies generally investigate average levels of happiness rather than happiness inequality between regions, and studies of social inequality usually measure it based on the distribution of life opportunities (e.g., income) rather than life results (e.g., happiness). Inspired by the Kuznets curve, which illustrates the inverted U-shaped correlation between income inequality and economic growth, this study investigates whether there is a subjective wellbeing Kuznets curve. It uses data from ten waves of the Chinese General Social Survey to construct a panel data set and runs panel data models to investigate the hypothesized curvilinear relationship between happiness inequality and economic growth. The results show that happiness inequality, measured as the standard deviations of respondents’ self-reported happiness, first increases and then decreases as per-capita GDP increases in Chinese provinces. These findings strongly support the subjective wellbeing Kuznets curve hypothesis and suggest that strategies for reducing happiness inequality must consider stages of economic development.

Cooking fuel choices and subjective well-being in rural China: Implications for a complete energy transition

This paper examines the impacts of cooking fuel choices on individuals' subjective well-being, measured by happiness and life satisfaction, using open-access data from the 2016 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey. We analyze the impacts by employing a multivalued treatment effects model that accounts for selectivity bias. Unlike previous studies that consider households' binary fuel use decisions or specific fuel choices, we capture the households' fuel-stacking behaviors (using multiple fuels) by classifying cooking fuels into clean fuels, non-clean fuels, and mixed-fuels. The empirical results show that complete energy transition (i.e., switching from either non-clean fuels or mixed fuels to clean fuels) significantly improves individuals' happiness and life satisfaction. In comparison, incomplete energy transition (i.e., shifting from non-clean fuels to mixed fuels) does not significantly impact individuals' subjective well-being. A complete energy transition increases people's subjective well-being in the eastern and central parts of China but has no impact on those living in western China. Furthermore, switching from non-clean fuels to clean fuels significantly reduces happiness inequality and life satisfaction inequality. Switching to cleaner fuels also significantly increases individuals' self-reported health. We recommend that the government in China make concerted efforts to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and clean energy sources and accelerate rural households' energy transition.

How Wealth Inequality Affects Happiness: The Perspective of Social Comparison.

Since Easterlin pointed out that economic growth in nations does not guarantee increasing happiness for the average citizen, the underlying reason has remained controversial. The present study focuses on income inequality to explain the “Easterlin Paradox,” ignoring the permanent inequality that long-term wealth accumulation brings. Based on social comparison theory, the literature aims to determine how wealth inequality, which accompanies economic growth, diminishes one’s happiness (inequality aversion). Specifically, we conduct this study in which we split the wealth inequality into the upward wealth inequality and the downward wealth inequality as measures of upward comparison and downward comparison, respectively. The upward wealth inequality measures the average gap between one and the better-off in wealth while the downward wealth inequality measures the average gap between one and the worse-off in wealth. Furthermore, the heterogeneity of the area of respondent is analyzed and the family life cycle is tested as a moderator. The main findings of the paper are as follows: (1) The empirical test results of hypothesis 1 indicate that the upward wealth inequality aversion (jealousy effect: people envy who is richer than themselves) is stronger than the downward wealth inequality inclination (proud effect: people enjoy having a superior position in the wealth hierarchy). It is due to the psychological preference: loss aversion. As an increase in upward distance implies a loss in relative status and an increase in downward distance implies a gain in relative status, people focus more on loss rather than gain. (2) The empirical test results of hypothesis 2 indicate that residents who live in rural areas do not have a proud effect as much as those who live in urban areas. There is a huge urban-rural wealth gap in China. With the expansion of the social network, people living in rural areas realize that even he is almost the rich in rural areas but still the lower classes in the whole society. It is hard for rural residents to have a proud effect. (3) The empirical test results of hypothesis 3 indicate that family members have the strongest upward inequality aversion in the middle-stage phase of the life cycle (when the family head is approximately 50). During the family life cycle, inequality aversion will be different in different life stages due to the changes in economic status expectations. At the beginning of the family life cycle, family members assume their life has limitless possibilities, and they have high expectations for the future. Logically, they can be easily satisfied by achieving a little more than their peers. In later periods, with increasing age, the members will pay more attention to health instead of wealth. The results shed light on how macroeconomics influence changes in individual psychology.

Of Tax, Crime, and Happiness. An Interdisciplinary Research Review on Social Inequality

This article reviews research literature on inequality from economics, sociology and political science from a historiographic perspective. The literature covered here mainly focusses on the development of Western societies between 1970 and 2010 and is organised in terms of research concepts such as tax competition, educational attainment gaps, educational assortative mating, opportunity hoarding, happiness inequality, politics of resentment, welfare chauvinism and nature versus nurture.

The Welfare States and Happiness Inequalities in Europe

Income distribution is a widely used measure of inequality, but in the assessment of welfare it is deemed to be insufficient. When measuring inequality in the distribution of welfare, subjective evaluations such as happiness and life satisfaction should also be taken into account. The purpose of this study was to analyze happiness inequalities in different welfare states in Europe. Overall happiness inequality, as well as happiness inequalities between different socioeconomic groups in these countries , were explored. Furthermore, this study analyzed how these inequalities changed over time. The European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) data set was used for the analysis. Independent sample t-test and one way ANOVA were also used. All analyses were done using the IBM SPSS 22 program. It was found that social democratic welfare states which consistently rank at the top of happiness rankings had the lowest overall happiness inequalities. Happiness inequalities among different sociodemographic population groups were also low in these countries. On the contrary, post-socialist welfare states had the highest happiness inequalities. Compared to employed people the unemployed were significantly unhappy in corporatist countries. Post-socialist and southern European welfare states stood out as having high happiness inequalities between those with good and poor health and between the young and elderly.

Happiness Inequality Among a Sample of Iranian Older Population

Abstract. This study evaluates the happiness inequality among older Iranians using concentration index analysis. A total of 739 people aged 60–90 years completed the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI) questionnaire. The SES variables were constructed using nonlinear principal component analysis (NLPCA) based on all related variables. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that persons in the SES quintiles 3–4, urban dwellers, literate, and with no underlying disease had higher odds of happiness than others. Based on the estimated concentration indices, there was inequality in happiness based on SES levels (concentration index [95% confidence Interval]: 0.14 [0.10, 0.19]; p < .05). Our results revealed that happiness in the older population was probably more prevalent among people with higher SES levels.

Measuring happiness in the social sciences: An overview

Social needs are universal and their fulfilment is considered to be a prerequisite for happiness and well-being. Currently, the assertion that income or revenue alone are insufficient to explain inequality of well-being and happiness in the evaluation of social policies is becoming ever more widespread in the social sciences. Therefore, numerous quantitative metrics mostly based on univariable scales have been created over the last sixty years to measure well-being, quality of life, or happiness. Based on a systematic review, this article compiles several measurement instruments of happiness and human well-being, and reflects that all of them measure and concentrate more on hedonic than eudaimonic happiness. Finally, it contemplates the need to develop a multidimensional model based on the sociology of emotions that includes social relationships and the complexity of human happiness, focusing more on eudaimonic rather than hedonic happiness.

Can Black Entrepreneurship Reduce Black-White Inequality in the United States?

This paper considers whether Black entrepreneurship in the USA matters for Black-White inequality in well-being as measured by individual happiness. We utilize data from the 2018 General Social Survey on respondent self-reported levels of happiness to estimate fixed group effect logit specifications of self-reported happiness levels as a function of individual characteristics, including being a Black American, and a measure of entrepreneurship—self-employment. Parameter estimates reveal that accounting for self-employment entirely eliminates Black-White happiness inequality. Our results suggest that increasing Black entrepreneurship can reduce Black-White inequality in well-being as measured by happiness.

The Effect of Income Inequality on Happiness Inequality in India: A Recentered Influence Function Regression Estimation and Life Satisfaction Inequality Decomposition

It is now an accepted stylised fact that increase in happiness level in any country is not commensurate with growth in income, a puzzle known as Easterlin Paradox. This paper analyses the income-happiness relationship in India and tries to explain the flat happiness response to income change in terms of rising income inequality. Income growth propels inequality and so also inequality in well-being. Empirically the effects of income inequality, absolute income, relative income, rank position and social capital indices are analysed using World Value Survey data for 12 states of India over 24 years from 1990 to 2014. As the variation in the 10-point scale measure of life satisfaction level is narrow, an recentered influence function (RIF) regression of variance and Gini of life satisfaction are estimated. The life satisfaction inequality is decomposed into composition and coefficients effects using Blinder–Oaxaca (B–O) decomposition method. The estimated RIF coefficients reveal significant effects on life satisfaction inequality of various income measures and social capital indices. The B–O decomposition shows that the functional relationship between material aspirations and life satisfaction, contribute significantly to rising life satisfaction inequality relative to changes over time in happiness influencing factors. Reducing income inequality and improving trust, sociability, health, education and employment over time and space could reduce life satisfaction inequality and improve happiness level in India.

노년기 행복 불평등에 대한 연구

노년기 행복 불평등에 대한 연구

Envy and Pride: How Economic Inequality Deepens Happiness Inequality in South Korea

This paper examines how economic inequality at the local level affects individuals’ subjective well-being (SWB) through social comparison in Seoul, South Korea. We implement a multi-level analysis combining asset inequality, calculated using the actual transaction prices of apartments, and public opinion surveys conducted by Seoul Metropolitan City between 2008 and 2016. Our analysis shows that inequality negatively affects SWB among respondents whose family income is lower than the median (the envy effect), but drives up SWB among the other half (the pride effect). Further analysis on the effect of inequality on subjective class awareness corroborates a social comparison mechanism: the haves embrace an upper-class awareness as local inequality increases, while the have-nots embrace a lower class awareness. These findings suggest that, despite concerns about economic inequality and its negative consequences, calling for policy reform to reduce inequality may be unpersuasive to the better off members of society, especially if doing so increases individual financial burdens.

Housing wealth and happiness in Urban China

China has experienced rapid growth in inequality in housing wealth. We examine how housing wealth and housing wealth inequality are associated with happiness, drawing on panel data from three waves of the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS). We find that housing wealth and housing wealth inequality matter for happiness. More housing wealth increases happiness with diminishing returns to owning a second and third house. The relationship between housing wealth inequality and happiness depends on the reference group and the level of housing wealth inequality. An increase in housing wealth inequality among individuals of the same gender and similar age and education who live in the same city as me provides a signal that I also could accumulate housing wealth and this prospect makes me happier up to a threshold. However, once housing wealth inequality passes that threshold, this lowers my happiness because the wealth of those toward the top of the distribution seems out of reach. Similarly, a general increase in housing wealth inequality across the province in which I live lowers my happiness, which is consistent with a jealousy or status effect. We also employ the concentration index (CI) to examine the effect of housing wealth inequality on happiness inequality. The wealth-related CIs for happiness are all positive, suggesting that higher happiness is more concentrated among people with higher housing wealth.

PM2.5 Concentrations and Subjective Well-Being: Longitudinal Evidence from Aggregated Panel Data from Chinese Provinces.

Although haze pollution with PM2.5 as the chief pollutant has become a critical threat worldwide, little research has examined the effects of PM2.5 concentrations on subjective well-being. Based on a longitudinal aggregated panel dataset from Chinese provinces, this study investigates the effects of PM2.5 concentrations on levels of happiness and the inequality of happiness. The results showed that high ground-level PM2.5 concentrations decreased the average level of happiness and high PM2.5 concentrations had stronger negative effects on the happiness of persons with high income than those with low income. In addition, PM2.5 concentrations were also significantly negatively related to inequality of happiness in Chinese provinces. Further empirical tests showed that the negative effects of PM2.5 concentrations on the inequality of happiness could be explained by the stronger influence of PM2.5 concentrations on the subjective well-being of individuals with a higher initial level of happiness than those with a lower initial level of happiness. This confirms that PM2.5 pollution can do harm to subjective well-being and reduce variations in the subjective well-being of individuals. The policy implications of controlling haze pollution and improving well-being are discussed.

Happiness, Happiness Inequality and Income Dynamics in South Africa

This paper explores the trends and determinants in happiness and happiness inequality in South Africa at the individual and aggregate district municipality level using the four waves of National Income Dynamics data. The findings indicate that while both happiness as well as income levels show increasing trends in recent years, the inequality trends differ substantially between income and happiness measures. Despite increase in income inequality, South Africa has been registering decreased happiness inequality. The paper identifies the significant determinants of happiness and happiness inequality and finds that income determines happiness level as well as happiness inequality at both individual and aggregate level. The similarity of findings at the individual and aggregate levels indicate that the happiness–income paradox noted in literature does not seem to exist within the South African context. At the aggregate level, income inequality has significant negative and positive impact on happiness levels and happiness inequality respectively. Our finding of increasing happiness levels and decreasing happiness inequality in the backdrop of increasing income inequality, is indicative that absolute effect rather than relative effect of income dominates happiness and happiness inequality at the country level in South Africa. The paper’s findings reinforce the argument that happiness inequality may be a useful supplementary measure of inequality in society.