Testing Subjective Well-Being from the Perspective of Social Quality: Quantile Regression Evidence from Shanghai, China

Based on an empirical survey in Shanghai, this study tests how the effects of Social Quality’s four domains viz. social economic security, social inclusion, social cohesion, and social empowerment—on subjective well-being (SWB) vary across quantiles of SWB. The results show that house tenure, financial balance, social participation, social trust, loneliness, and social alienation, are strong predictors for SWB across SWB’s quantiles. Institutional trust improves SWB among those with lower and middle levels of SWB. People’s view on success attribution is also associated with SWB. Being married makes those with low levels of SWB happier, whereas high education only benefits those from the upper quantiles of SWB.     

Subjective Well-Being and Armed Conflict: Evidence from Bosnia-Herzegovina

We analyze survey data from Bosnia and Herzegovina collected after the 1992–1995 Bosnian War to answer the following questions: How does individual subjective well-being evolve in the post-conflict period? Does exposure to conflict have an important role in determining one’s post-war experiences? Our identification strategy relies on regional and individual-level variation in exposure to the conflict. Individual war-related trauma has a negative, significant, and lasting impact on subjective well-being. The effect is stronger for those displaced during the war. Municipality-level conflict measures are not significantly associated with subjective well-being once municipality fixed effects are accounted for.     

Personality and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from South Korea

Although the statistically significant relationship between personality traits and subjective well-being (i.e., self-reported happiness and life satisfaction) is well-known in the field of positive psychology, some scholars still cast doubt on the external validity of this finding and the strength of personality dimensions vis-à-vis other individual-level determinants of subjective well-being such as income, employment status, marital status, self-reported health, and so on. Using a nationally representative, face-to-face survey fielded in South Korea in 2009, we find that personality traits (measured by the Five-factor Model)—particularly, Emotional Stability and Extraversion—are positively associated with happiness and life satisfaction, after controlling for other covariates. The effects of personality traits are often on par with, and sometimes even greater than, those of other well-known determinants.     

Subjective Well-Being: Revisions to Dynamic Equilibrium Theory using National Panel Data and Panel Regression Methods

This paper partly revises the dynamic equilibrium (DE) theory of subjective well-being (SWB), sometimes termed set point theory. Results from four national panel surveys show that correlations among measures of SWB diminish over time, and that the SWB set points of a minority of individuals substantially change. These results mean that DE theory requires revision to make it more dynamic and enable it to better account for medium term change in SWB. The paper identifies personality traits and life events associated with subsequent changes in SWB. Data come from German, British and Australian panel surveys in which SWB has been measured for between 9 and 20 years. Panel regression random and fixed effects models were used to analyse the data.     

The Relationship Between Age and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Five Capital Cities in Mainland China

Since the mid-60s of the twentieth-century, the researchers have made lots of studies on the relationship between age and subjective well-being (SWB), and yielded some contradictory conclusions. By using an urban sample (N = 3,099) from five capital cities in Mainland China, this paper presents some new evidence on this issue in the Chinese context. The paper reconfirms a significant relationship between age and subjective well-being, and argues that different measure instruments of subjective well-being lead to different types of relationship. It is partly testified that subjective well-being follows approximate U-shape across age groups, and the minimum point lies in the age band 45–49. It is also found that age is not always a strong significant predictor of subjective well-being when a different dependent variable was adopted to multiple regression analysis. It is suggested that the researchers should pay more attention to the specific content of subjective well-being while examining the relationship between age and subjective well-being.     

Internet Use and Subjective Well-Being in China

Using data from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies, we analyze the association between Internet use and various measures of subjective well-being (SWB) in a sample of 16- to 60-year-old Chinese. Our analysis shows that although intensive Internet use is significantly associated with lower levels of SWB, we hardly observe any associations when the focus is on participation in specific online activities. Nevertheless, SWB depends on the reasons for using the Internet and the extent to which individuals feel that their Internet use is displacing other activities. Our results suggest that, contrary to previous findings, differences in beneficial outcomes (the third level digital divide) do not necessarily arise from individuals’ actual Internet use (the second level digital divide) but rather may result from their subjective perceptions of such usage. Our findings also point to a possible cultural factor that puts Chinese Internet users at psychological risk.     

Family Structure and Subjective Economic Well-Being: Some New Evidence

The paper investigates the main socio-demographic and economic determinants of subjective economic well-being in different typologies of households. Previous studies have used dummy variables to explore the effect of family structure. In this paper, however four different models—one for each family typology—have been estimated to test if each selected explanatory variable is significant and how it acts in determining the level of subjective economic well-being. To achieve this, we apply an under-used logit model—the partial proportional ordered model. Our analysis, based on data from the 2005 Italian Survey on Income and Living Conditions highlights the main variables affecting the subjective economic well-being of all household typologies. These main variables are related to income adequacy, such as being able to afford housing, clothes and holidays, and also include the work-status and level of education of the respondent. These variables produce notable differences in the level of subjective economic well-being. We find that couples with no children have the highest level of perceived economic well-being, while couples with two or more children and even more so one-person households are more economically insecure.     

The Effects of Employee Involvement and Participation on Subjective Wellbeing: Evidence from Urban China

This study examines how perceptions of the work context affect the job and career satisfaction of Chinese employees. Perceived organizational support (POS), procedural justice, and gender bias against women are considered as antecedents. Gender is expected to moderate the relationships between these antecedents and the outcome variables. The results of hierarchical regression analysis on data from 591 Chinese employees indicated that POS and procedural justice are positively related to employees’ job and career satisfaction. Additionally, gender acts as a moderator in the relationship between POS and job satisfaction, and between gender bias against women and career satisfaction.     

An Institutional Perspective on Individual Work Well-Being: Evidence from China

This paper evaluates how factors and values that are embedded in China’s changing institutional environment impact work well-being. Using firm level survey data, the paper examines how exogenous institutions—state ownership and individual traditionality—interact with firm level institutions—strategic human resource management (SHRM) and person-organisation fit (P-O fit) to influence workers’ job involvement. We find that state ownership weakens the effect of SHRM on workers’ job involvement while P-O fit does not. Individual traditionality on the other hand moderates the effects of SHRM and P-O fit on workers’ job involvement. Our study contributes to work well-being research in transitioning economies such as China and has consequences for labour market and SHRM policies.     

Subjective Well-Being Approach to Environmental Valuation: Evidence for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The subjective well-being approach to environmental valuation is applied to analyze the valuation of greenhouse gas emissions with a fairness-adjustment in the valuation exercise. Results indicate that industrialized countries have high willingness-to-pay to reduce emissions. Developing countries differ in their valuations. Results indicate that poor countries have willingness to pay whereas middle income countries indicate willingness to accept payments to reduce emissions. Such high willingness-to-pay of industrialized countries, however, does not imply that they can pay off developing countries in order to continue emitting as usual. Still, the different positions with regard to emissions point to possibilities toward some inter-group payments and transfers system to allow societies to contribute toward global reduction emissions reduction.     

城镇居民与流动人口的收入差异——基于Oaxaca-Blinder和Quantile方法的分解

文章利用中国社会科学院经济研究所收入分配课题组的2002年城镇住户和暂住户调查数据,对城镇居民与流动人口的工资收入差异进行了分解。Oaxaca-Blinder分解结果表明,城镇居民和流动人口收入差异的60%应归结于歧视。而进一步的Quantile分解结果显示,在低收入和中等收入人群中,歧视是造成城镇居民和流动人口收入差距的主要原因。但对处于收入的条件分布最高端的10%的人群而言,流动人口与城镇居民之间的收入差距主要是特征效应所致。     

Perceived Social Policy Fairness and Subjective Wellbeing: Evidence from China

This study examined the relationship between perceived fairness of social policies and subjective well-being. Two types of policies examined were related to income distribution and social security. Subjective well-being was measured by work and life satisfaction. In addition, subjective well-beings between different income, age, and education groups in the context of perceived social justice were compared. With data from a random telephone survey conducted in Beijing, China among 2,113 respondents, findings from structural equation modeling indicate perceived fairness of social security and income distribution policies are positively associated with subjective well-being. After controlling for income, age, and education, the effect of income distribution fairness on work satisfaction was still positive and significant but had decreased in intensity, while the effect size on life satisfaction had changed little. Effects of social security fairness on both life and work satisfaction were still significant but had changed in different directions after adding demographic variables, in which the effect on life satisfaction had increased, while the effect on work satisfaction had decreased in size.     

人口年龄结构变化影响城乡居民消费率的效应差异研究——来自中国省级面板数据的证据

文章通过扩展世代交叠模型,考察了人口年龄结构变化对一国居民消费率的影响.基于2000～2013年中国省级面板数据,系统广义矩估计和门槛回归结果表明:在城镇地区,少儿抚养比和老年抚养比对消费率均产生正向影响,且该正向影响都随收入增长率的提高而减弱;而在农村地区,少儿抚养比和老年抚养比对消费率均产生负效应,少儿抚养比的负效应随收入增长率的提高而增强,老年抚养比的负效应却呈现“倒U型”特征.研究结论表明:生命周期消费理论在中国只适用于城镇地区,并不适用于农村地区,人口年龄结构变化影响城乡居民消费率的效应差异十分显著.城镇地区少儿抚养比的大幅下降和农村地区老年抚养比的持续上升是中国居民消费率长期走低的重要原因.     

Examining the Relationship Between Intergenerational Upward Mobility and Inequality: Evidence from Panel Data

Social Indicators Research - Composite well-being and sustainability indices are usually obtained as arithmetic and geometric means of sub-dimensions. However, the arithmetic mean does not consider...     

我国城乡医疗服务利用的不平等研究——一项于CHARLS数据的实证分析

本文在机会平等的理论框架下讨论我国城乡医疗服务利用的不平等问题,以"资源"和"能力"两个维度界定不平等,并使用Oaxaca-Blinder分解模型进行分析。研究发现,城乡居民的"能力"差异可解释绝大部分的医疗服务利用差异,医疗资源可及性、医疗保险政策和教育水平也是导致差异的重要影响因素。城乡居民存在着严重的医疗服务利用不平等,农村居民处于不利地位。     

Growing Pains: Changes in Psychological Well-Being in Urban China

Social Indicators Research - Previous research sheds little light on changes in mental health conditions in former socialist countries that have undergone massive transformations. In this study, we...     

The Influence of Water Access in Subjective Well-Being: Some Evidence in Yucatan, Mexico

The literature on happiness or subjective well-being has explored the determinants of happiness without taking into consideration the role that water plays. In this paper we attempt to draw attention to water in subjective well-being studies. Approximately one hundred million people do not have access to water. A lack of clean water causes diseases such as diarrhea and cholera, responsible for around 5% of the total deaths in the world. Access to water should therefore be a necessary asset in life. In order to consider access to water, we estimate its influence on subjective well-being using data from rural Yucatan, Mexico. Residents in Yucatan suffer from low quality access to water and there are also imperfections in the management of the service, such as water cuts. We estimate the influence of water on subjective well-being, finding a positive and significant relationship. In a second stage of the research, we relate water access variables to subjective well-being, the health and the water domain of life, finding significant results. These results make it possible to formulate political measures concerning access to water and happiness maximization. We demonstrate that access to water is important for well-being in Yucatan and might be important in many other places; we therefore encourage future research to contemplate water satisfaction and water variables in their analysis.