Institutional Origins of Subjective Well-Being: Estimating the Effects of Economic Freedom on National Happiness

Abstract

We exploit the cross-country differences in economic freedom to examine the link between the quality of institutions and subjective well-being. Using Veenhoven's happiness dataset, the evidence suggests countries with better economic institutions and higher level of economic freedom, captured by the security of property rights, open markets and more limited government, are significantly more likely to experience greater subjective well-being after controlling for structural confounders of national subjective well-being such as income, unemployment, inequality, social capital and life satisfaction. The effect of institutions on cross-national happiness is both significant and robust to different model specifications, estimation techniques and possible sources of endogeneity. Furthermore, our panel data analysis reveals that over time higher levels of economic freedom are associated with decreasing subjective well-being after controlling for state dependence and income.

Free to Be Happy: Economic Freedom and Happiness in US States

“…Rather than provide an exhaustive review of the literature on economic freedom and subjective well-being, as such reviews already exist in the literature (Graafland and Compen 2015;Spruk and Kešeljević 2015), only the key papers on the topic are briefly reviewed. Spruk and Kešeljević (2015) explore the connection between happiness and institutions with a particular focus on the institutions of economic freedom.…”

“…Spruk and Kešeljević (2015) explore the connection between happiness and institutions with a particular focus on the institutions of economic freedom. Their research is significant in two key ways.…”

“…Lastly, this study is able to make use of dynamic panel data methods which generates a set of instruments which can purge endogeneity in the data. This was previously done by Spruk and Kešeljević (2015) in a cross country panel analysis. Our study finds that economic freedom has a positive impact on happiness with both individual and state average being the unit of measurement.…”

A relação entre a felicidade e o desejo por hospitalidade mediada pela autoimagem do turista e a imagem do seu destino

“…Esse aspecto é corroborado pelo estudo de Kaliterna-Lipovčan, Brasjša-Žganec e Poljanec-Borić (2014) que examinaram a qualidade dos destinos turísticos está ligada ao bem-estar subjetivo das pessoas que residem naqueles destinos, para chegar a essa conclusão eles estudaram dois conjuntos de dados: um que relacionava o bem-estar dos cidadãos da Croácia e o outro que relacionava a qualidade dos destinos turísticos no país, no qual puderam constatar por meio de uma análise de covariância que quanto maiores eram os graus de felicidade e satisfação dos cidadãos, maior era a qualidade do destino turístico (Kaliterna-Lipovčan et al, 2014 (Spruk & Kešeljević (2016) ao pesquisar a felicidade relacionada a democracia e a liberdade existentes nos países que estudaram e puderam constatar um correlação entre a felicidade e aos altos níveis de segurança proporcionados pelo fato de serem locais democráticos e por outro lado baixos níveis de satisfação quanto maior fossem as mudanças políticas e econômicas, o que nos dá ideia de quanto mais liberdade os turistas perceberam, maior será o grau de felicidade.…”

Concepts and Theories of Happiness of Population in Urban Neighbourhoods

“…Various studies have been carried out at the national and city levels (Bartolini et al, 2013;Florida et al, 2013;Frey and Stutzer, 2013;Tandoc and Takashi, 2013). However, most studies were not focused on the living environment or neighbourhood (Bergsma et al, 2010;Moradi et al, 2013;Snoep, 2008;Spruk & Keseljevic, 2014). Additionally, the application of happiness theory for the Malaysian urban neighbourhood environment is yet undecided.…”