National well-being policy and a weighted approach to human feelings

O’Donnell, Gus; Oswald, Andrew J.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.09.021

Cited by 30 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 141 publications

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“…Rather than just the absence of mental illness, mental wellbeing therefore encompasses aspects of positive affect, relaxation, functioning, personal relationships, life satisfaction and general happiness [17–19]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cross-sectional analysis of green space prevalence and mental wellbeing in England

2017

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BackgroundWith urbanisation increasing, it is important to understand how to design changing environments to promote mental wellbeing. Evidence suggests that local-area proportions of green space may be associated with happiness and life satisfaction; however, the available evidence on such associations with more broadly defined mental wellbeing in still very scarce. This study aimed to establish whether the amount of neighbourhood green space was associated with mental wellbeing.MethodsData were drawn from Understanding Society, a national survey of 30,900 individuals across 11,096 Census Lower-Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in England, over the period 2009–2010. Measures included the multi-dimensional Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS) and LSOA proportion of green space, which was derived from the General Land Use Database (GLUD), and were analysed using linear regression, while controlling for individual, household and area-level factors.ResultsThose living in areas with greater proportions of green space had significantly higher mental wellbeing scores in unadjusted analyses (an expected increase of 0.17 points (95% CI 0.11, 0.23) in the SWEMWBS score for a standard deviation increase of green space). However, after adjustment for confounding by respondent sociodemographic characteristics and urban/rural location, the association was attenuated to the null (regression coefficient B = − 0.01, 95% CI -0.08, 0.05, p = 0.712).ConclusionsWhile the green space in an individual’s local area has been shown through other research to be related to aspects of mental health such as happiness and life satisfaction, the association with multidimensional mental wellbeing is much less clear from our results. While we did not find a statistically significant association between the amount of green space in residents’ local areas and mental wellbeing, further research is needed to understand whether other features of green space, such as accessibility, aesthetics or use, are important for mental wellbeing.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cross-sectional analysis of green space prevalence and mental wellbeing in England

2017

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“…McLaughlin ), people in the 20th century gained negative freedom (freedom from the pressure of entrenched cultural norms), without winning positive freedom (freedom to do something meaningful and fulfilling with their newly acquired liberty). This explanatory framework, although not as powerful as it used to be in the 1960s and the 1970s, still makes it possible to account for the apparent paradox that the frequency of depression and suicide in advanced capitalist societies has increased despite the parallel increase in material wealth (Layard ; Hidaka ; O'Donnell and Oswald ; Balayannis and Cook ). More recent research on meaning (Wegner and Gray ; King et al .…”

Section: Hedonism Virtue and Meaning‐makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demonic geographies

Simandan

2017

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Demonic geography is an approach to practising human geography that operates from the premise that there are no such immaterial entities as ‘souls’, ‘spirits’, ‘minds’, integrated stable ‘selves’ or conscious ‘free will’. This paper elaborates the theoretical framework of demonic geography by spelling out how it is different from non‐representational theory and by articulating it within recent developments in experimental psychology, neuroscience and the philosophy of mind. Counterintuitively, the paper shows that the deflationary, materialistic ontology of human nature espoused by demonic geography need not lead to meaninglessness, unhappiness or the collapse of moral behaviour. Instead, subscribing to demonic geography opens up new ways to find meaning, to pursue happiness and to live the good life.

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“…3 In recent years, subjective well-being measures, such as happiness and life satisfaction measured with large representative surveys, have become increasingly popular in this regard and some authors (e.g. Layard, 2005, O'Donnell andOswald, 2015) have advocated the use of these indicators in policy evaluation. Numerous studies have indeed shown that non-monetary life dimensions, in addition to income, are important determinants of subjective well-being.…”

Section: Subjective Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting Subjective Well-Being to Use for Ex-Ante Policy Evaluation

Jara

Schokkaert

2016

SSRN Journal

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Most studies using microsimulation techniques have considered the effect of potential reforms on the income distribution. However, it has become increasingly recognized , both at the academic and political level, that focusing purely on income provides a limited picture of social progress. We illustrate how ex-ante policy evaluation can be performed in terms of richer concepts of individual well-being, such as subjective life satisfaction and equivalent incomes. Our analysis makes use of EUROMOD, the EU-wide tax-benefit microsimulation model, along with 2013 EU-SILC data for Sweden, which for the first time provides information on life satisfaction. Our results show that the effect of potential reforms varies widely depending on the well-being concept used in the evaluation. We discuss the normative questions that are raised by this finding.

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National well-being policy and a weighted approach to human feelings

Cited by 30 publications

References 141 publications

A cross-sectional analysis of green space prevalence and mental wellbeing in England

A cross-sectional analysis of green space prevalence and mental wellbeing in England

Demonic geographies

Putting Subjective Well-Being to Use for Ex-Ante Policy Evaluation

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