Abstract
Can governance impact directly on well-being? In this paper we examine subjective well-being using data for a cross section
of countries from the World Values data set. We find that regional democratic satisfaction impacts on both individual happiness
and life satisfaction. However, the impact is less evident for women, rich people and for those in rich countries. The fact
that the governance variable analysis is based on regional differences in democratic satisfaction reminds us that governance
and indeed happiness often differs within countries as well as between them. The use of regional satisfaction in this manner
helps overcome endogeneity problems which would be present if we were to use individual democratic satisfaction. Other significant
determinants of happiness include settlement size, marital status, income, unemployment and being part of a linguistic minority/majority
grouping.
of countries from the World Values data set. We find that regional democratic satisfaction impacts on both individual happiness
and life satisfaction. However, the impact is less evident for women, rich people and for those in rich countries. The fact
that the governance variable analysis is based on regional differences in democratic satisfaction reminds us that governance
and indeed happiness often differs within countries as well as between them. The use of regional satisfaction in this manner
helps overcome endogeneity problems which would be present if we were to use individual democratic satisfaction. Other significant
determinants of happiness include settlement size, marital status, income, unemployment and being part of a linguistic minority/majority
grouping.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-16
- DOI 10.1007/s11205-012-9997-8
- Authors
- Marta Orviska, Faculty of Economics, Matej Bel University, Tajovskeho 10, 975 90 Banska Bystrica, Slovak Republic
- Anetta Caplanova, Department of Economics, University of Economics in Bratislava, Dolnozemska, 1, 852 19 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
- John Hudson, Department of Economics, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY UK
- Journal Social Indicators Research
- Online ISSN 1573-0921
- Print ISSN 0303-8300