Economic Growth Evens Out Happiness: Evidence from Six Surveys

Abstract

In spite of the great U-turn that saw income inequality rise in Western countries in the 1980s, happiness inequality has fallen in countries that have experienced income growth (but not in those that did not). Modern growth has reduced the share of both the “very unhappy” and the “perfectly happy”. Lower happiness inequality is found both between and within countries, and between and within individuals. Our cross-country regression results argue that the extension of various public goods helps to explain this greater happiness homogeneity. This new stylised fact arguably comes as a bonus to the Easterlin paradox, offering a somewhat brighter perspective for developing countries.

What makes a good job? Job quality and job satisfaction

“…The phenomenon of falling overall job satisfaction over time is not particular to the UK. Similar movements can be seen in a number of other OECD countries [4].…”

“…The boundedness problem may have been overstated too. In most surveys, individual responses are not concentrated in the top well-being category: in fact, both the top and bottom life satisfaction and job satisfaction categories are becomingly increasingly depopulated [4].…”

Unhappiness and Pain in Modern America: A Review Essay, and Further Evidence, on Carol Graham’s Happiness for All?

“…"A related trend is new evidence that inequality in life satisfaction in the United States has increased recently.…there is some new evidence … inequality in life satisfaction increasing in the past five or so years (Stevenson and Wolfers, 2008;Clark, Fleche, and Senik, 2016)." While our figures show this is broadly true across educational groups, it is not true across racial groups.…”

ECONOMIC FREEDOM & HAPPINESS INEQUALITY: FRIENDS OR FOES?

“…In this article, we examine how the policies and institutions consistent with the principles of economic freedom are related to the distribution of happiness in countries. Our article is most closely related to studies by Bjørnskov and Tsai (); Clark, Fleche, and Senik (Forthcoming); Ott (); and Veenhoven (). These studies are summarized in Section II below.…”