Abstract
I investigate the relationship between the popular Mercer city ranking (livability) and survey data (satisfactions). Livability
aims to capture objective quality of life such as infrastructure. Survey items capture subjective quality of life such as satisfaction with city. The relationship between objective measures of quality of life and subjective
measures is weak (correlation of about 0.4). Trust is highly correlated with both, objective livability (0.8) and subjective
satisfaction with city (0.65). I postulate to pay more attention to subjective indicators of quality of life. After all, what
matters is what we perceive, not what is out there.
aims to capture objective quality of life such as infrastructure. Survey items capture subjective quality of life such as satisfaction with city. The relationship between objective measures of quality of life and subjective
measures is weak (correlation of about 0.4). Trust is highly correlated with both, objective livability (0.8) and subjective
satisfaction with city (0.65). I postulate to pay more attention to subjective indicators of quality of life. After all, what
matters is what we perceive, not what is out there.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-19
- DOI 10.1007/s11205-011-9939-x
- Authors
- Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA
- Journal Social Indicators Research
- Online ISSN 1573-0921
- Print ISSN 0303-8300