收入差距对中国居民主观幸福感的影响分析——基于中国综合社会调查数据的实证研究

文章利用2006年中国综合社会调查数据,考察了收入差距对居民主观幸福感的影响。研究发现:收入差距对主观幸福感的影响呈倒U形,临界点在基尼系数为0.4,当基尼系数小于0.4时,居民的幸福感随着收入差距的扩大而增强;但超过0.4时,扩大的收入差距将导致居民幸福感的下降。随着收入差距的扩大,居住在城市、非农业户籍和受教育程度较高的居民,其幸福感更低。居民自认为收入所得不合理也会显著降低其幸福感。     

The Association Between Perceived Income Inequality and Subjective Well-being: Evidence from a Social Survey in Japan

Previous studies have shown that income inequality in society is negatively associated with individuals subjective well-being (SWB), such as their perceived happiness and self-rated health (SRH). However, it is not realistic to assume that individuals have precise information about actual income distribution measured by the Gini coefficient or other statistical measures. In the current study, we examined how perceived income inequality, rather than actual inequality, was associated with SWB, using cross-sectional data collected from a nationwide, Internet survey conducted in Japan (N = 10,432). We also examined how this association was confounded by individuals’ objective and subjective income status, considering the possibility that individuals with lower income status are more inclined to both perceive income inequality and feel unhappy/unhealthy. In our analysis, we focused on the perception of widening income inequality (as perceived income inequality), perceived happiness and SRH (as SWB), and household income and living standards compared with 1 year ago and compared with others (as income status). We also controlled for personality traits. We obtained three key findings: (1) perceived income inequality was negatively associated with SWB; (2) both perceived income inequality and SWB were associated with income status; and (3) the association between perceived income inequality and SWB was attenuated after controlling for income status, but not fully for perceived happiness. These findings suggest that perceived income inequality, which links actual income inequality to SWB, should be further studied.     

Relative Income, Inequality and Subjective Wellbeing: Evidence for Brazil

This paper analyzes the determinants of the self-reported income and food sufficiency in Brazil, highlighting how these subjective measures of wellbeing are affected by relative conditions. Analyses are based on pooled data from the 2002/2003 and 2008/2009 Brazilian Family Budget Survey and on estimates of the multinomial relation between income and food sufficiency with absolute and relative indicators. The paper highlights that living in a more affluent neighborhood does matter in self-reported perceptions of wellbeing. Stated income sufficiency depends positively on absolute family income and negatively on relative neighbor income. Moreover, neighborhood education and regional inequality affect both stated perceptions of income and food sufficiency. The paper concludes that improving personal income and education, as well as reducing inequality, is one of the most effective ways to improve both the quality of life and the general perceptions of wellbeing in society.     

Climbing up the Social Ladders: Identity, Relative Income, and Subjective Well-being

This study incorporates the concept of identity to explain the relationship between relative income and subjective well-being. Based upon the theoretical framework of an identity model developed by Akerlof and Kranton Q J Econ 115:715–753, (2000), the empirical findings of this study suggest that an increase in relative income leads to a gain in positional identity and therefore raises the level of subjective well-being. This approach extends our understanding about the connection between positional concern and subjective well-being and explains the importance of social comparison in shaping individuals’ preferences and tastes. People are concerned about their relative income as it represents a positional identity of social status, dependent upon ideals and norms derived from the interactions between an individual and others within a society.     

Individual Income Inequality and Its Drivers in Indonesia: A Theil Decomposition Reassessment

This article employs a Theil decomposition analysis to examine various dimensions of income inequality, using the 2007 Indonesian Family Life Survey. The empirical strategy is based on the individual-level income data—instead of group means as in the existing literature—and thus accounts for within-group dispersion of individual incomes. The decomposition exercise reveals that income inequality across education levels constitutes about 13 % of total income inequality. The urban–rural and interprovincial dimensions individually explain 6.0–6.5 %, but the contribution of income inequality by genders appears to be negligible. The findings highlight educational reform as an effective redistributive policy.     

Effects of Objective and Subjective Income Comparisons on Subjective Wellbeing

This paper aims to investigate the determinants of happiness and life satisfaction in Turkey in recent years. It uses regression analyses based on micro data from two nationally representative household surveys, namely the Turkish Life Satisfaction Survey and the World Values Survey for Turkey, in years 2007 and 2011. The wide variety of data collected by the two surveys enables a comprehensive analysis of the correlates of the outcome variable. Although some of the results are consistent both with the earlier ones in the literature and across the datasets used in this study, some others depend on the time period, the set of control variables and the sample used; thus casting doubt on the strength of the findings. To make a proper comparison and to isolate the differences generated by different samples, the analysis is restricted to the same set of control variables that are defined in the most similar manner. The variables whose estimates have been found to be similar are unemployment status, marital status, relative income, and gender. The differences are observed in the estimates of age, absolute income and education. The conclusion is that the question of what determines happiness is still a valid one that needs to be studied with more and better data. Recommendations are made for ways to improve data quality.     

Cross-National Variation in Individual Life Satisfaction: Effects of National Wealth, Human Development, and Environmental Conditions

This study adds to the literature on subjective well-being and life satisfaction by exploring variation in individual life satisfaction across countries. Understanding whether and how individual life satisfaction varies across countries is important because if the goal of development is to increase well-being, we must identify the causes of well-being in different national and regional contexts. Using hierarchical linear modeling techniques, I test the hypothesis that individual well-being does vary across countries, and that national wealth, human development and environmental conditions explain this variation. I also test whether the effects of individual characteristics on life satisfaction (including age, marital status, education, income, employment status, and sex) vary across countries, and which country level characteristics explain these variations. Using individual level data from the World Values Survey, I find that there is significant variation in life satisfaction across countries. There is also significant variation in the slopes of individual predictors of life satisfaction across countries and regions. Regional differences in the effects of individual characteristics on life satisfaction explain most of the between country variation in life satisfaction. This indicates that universal development indicators may not adequately reflect differences in life satisfaction across countries, and that development measurements should better reflect regional differences.

生育与主观幸福感——基于生命周期和生命历程的视角

文章利用CGSS 2003 ～ 2013年数据通过APC模型来探讨以孩子数量和性别为特征的生育行为与父母主观幸福感的动态关系.结果表明更多的孩子会对处于中青年时期的父母产生负面影响,却会显著提升父母在老年时期的幸福感,并且这种效应在母亲中表现更为明显.出生在1940年代的父母享受了孩子数量对其幸福感的最高正向回报,而后随着计划生育政策的执行和人口转变的深入,孩子数量对父母幸福感的正向影响迅速消失.此外,对农村父母来说,生育儿子会在其整个生命周期内产生略微正向但不显著的幸福效应;但是对城市父母来说,生育儿子会显著降低其在中老年后的幸福感.养育女孩并没有明显的年龄和队列趋势,但都会为其个人的幸福感带来边际显著的正向作用.     

夫妻收入差别和年龄差距会影响幸福感吗?——来自微观数据的经验证据

家庭内部结构会对夫妻双方主观幸福感产生影响,本文利用CGSS2013数据检验了夫妻相对收入地位和年龄差别对幸福感的影响.研究发现,在控制家庭总收入的情况下,妻子收入比重提高会显著降低丈夫幸福感,丈夫本人收入增长会显著提高自身幸福感,但妻子收入对丈夫幸福感没有显著影响;夫妻之间相对收入地位对妻子幸福感没有显著影响,丈夫收入增长能够显著提高妻子幸福感,妻子本人收入对幸福感也存在显著正面影响,但影响程度和显著度较低.年龄差别对丈夫幸福感没有显著影响,夫妻年龄差距对妻子幸福感有负面影响,传统上认为"男大女小"家庭关系更幸福可能这类家庭拥有较高的收入水平.进一步研究认为,妻子相对收入提高对丈夫幸福感的负面影响取决于主观观念,越认同"男主内、 女主外"观念的男性,妻子收入比重提高对其幸福感的负面影响越大.研究采用OLS和有序probit模型,通过增减变量观察回归系数和显著程度变化,发现结果是稳健的.     

Dimensions of Gender Occupational Differentiation in Segregation and Inequality: A Cross-National Analysis

The present research: (a) distinguishes between measures of gender occupational segregation and measures of gender occupational inequality, and (b) examines whether occupational segregation and occupational inequality are differentially related to structural characteristics of national labor markets. Analysis of data from 56 nations shows that measures of nominal segregation are not equivalent to measures of hierarchical inequality. Nominal segregation seems to increase with industrialization and in the presence of service industries but decreases as female labor force participation increases. By contrast, occupational inequality seems to decrease with industrialization and in the presence of service industries but to increase as both female labor force participation and level of educational inequality rise. The data further demonstrate that nominal segregation and ordinal status inequality are interrelated. Where nominal segregation is high, women's relative representation in high status occupations tends to rise. We argue that occupational segregation should not be equated with occupational inequality, and that theoretical propositions regarding gender-occupational segregation may not be applicable to issues concerning occupational inequality. We obtain a better understanding of, and insight into the nature of gender-occupational differentiation by simultaneously considering these two dimensions of gender-occupational differentiation.     

Welfare State Development,Individual Deprivations and Income Inequality: A Cross-Country Analysis in Latin America and the Caribbean

Several scholars have confirmed the role that the welfare state (WS) plays in reducing poverty, promoting equality and ensuring the common wellbeing. One of the limitations of the scholarship has been the conceptualization and operationalization of the WS and poverty as one-dimensional variables. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between welfare state development, single-dimensions deprivations and income inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean, before and after controlling for demographic and cyclical factors. The WS is operationalized as a one-dimensional variable, but also taking into account its multidimensional nature. Three individual deprivations suffered by people on poverty and two income inequality indicators are used as dependent variables. Three pooled time-series cross-section regression analyses with panel-corrected standard errors models were carried out on 18 countries in the region around 2000, 2005 and 2010. This paper shows that the development of social-welfare programs and institutions seems to be an effective way of tackling individual deprivations suffered by people on poverty in the region. On the other hand, the WS development didn’t appear to be effective to reduce income inequality. The outcomes of welfare institutions appear to be the pivotal dimension to reduce income inequality and income deprivations in the region.     

Family 'Decline' and the Subjective Well-being of Adolescents

The goal of the present study was to determine to what extent an adolescent's subjective well-being is affected when changes in family structure reach a breaking point and the child can no longer stay with his family, but must be institutionalized. The participants were one hundred male and female adolescents, 12 to 19 years of age, 50 of which lived in children's homes, but were originally from 50 different families, and 50 of which lived at home with their parents. Two questionnaires were administered: (a) the French adaptation of the Life Satisfaction Scale (Blais et al., 1989) and (b) a questionnaire containing statements related to level of satisfaction in several areas, notably family relationships, body image, work and schooling, and leisure acitivites. The difference between the two groups was considerable, with more than one point separating the mean levels of satisfaction of the two groups (20% of the total length of the scale employed). A structural analysis of the results showed the direct or indirect influence of three factors related to placement in a children's home on life satisfaction: a direct effect of placement in a children's home, an indirect effect passing through the satisfaction with family life, and an indirect effect passing through the personal growth.     

农民工汇款与家庭收入不平等:基于反事实收入的分析

本文利用来自于农村劳动力输出大省湖北省的调研数据来考察农民工汇款对输出地家庭收入不平等的影响。研究结果表明,当我们简单将农民工汇款看成外生的转移收入时,农民工汇款能改善农村家庭的收入不平等状况。不过,当考虑到农村劳动力外出务工的选择性,并通过引入工具变量来构建那些外出劳动力户的反事实收入时,我们会得到相反的结论:由于那些外出务工劳动力往往来自于经济状况较好的家庭,农民工汇款扩大了农村家庭的收入不平等状况,家庭人均收入的基尼系数从反事实收入情形下的0.3551上升至实际收入情形下的0.3774。     

Health Implications of Socioeconomic Characteristics,Subjective Social Status,and Perceptions of Inequality: An Empirical Study of China

This study explores how health is associated with socioeconomic status, subjective social status, and perceptions of inequality simultaneously. Two health outcomes (self-reported health and psychological distress) are examined, and the subtlety of their relationships with each of the three dimensions of inequality is probed. Data used come from a nationally representative sample survey conducted in China. Several findings emerge from empirical analyses: (1) Overall, the three dimensions of social inequality are associated with self-reported health and psychological distress net of each other and other control variables; (2) among focal socioeconomic characteristics, income and Chinese Communist Party membership are significantly associated with both health outcomes, education exhibits a robust effect on self-reported health, and rural and migrant statuses are linked to less distress; (3) subjective social status in comparisons with both socially proximal and broad referents is associated with both health outcomes, and the association with downward comparisons is more salient than with upward comparisons; and (4) perceived degree and perceived sources of inequality in society show varying relationships with the two health outcomes. These findings add to our understanding of the multidimensionality and complexity of social inequality in relation to health.     

收入增长、不平等和贫困——中国健康与营养调查数据分析

文章利用中国8个省的调查数据,研究了城市和农村在1989~2004年间经济增长、收入不平等和减贫之间的关系.分析结果表明,城乡收入水平在这一期间有了引人注目的改善,在很大程度上降低了贫困率.沿海农村地区的居民收入上升最快,其次为沿海城市地区.在这个时期,收入的不平等也在扩大,尤其是在城市地区,抵消了一部分由增长带来的减贫成果.通过对收入决定因素的分解,作者发现,收入水平的改善在很大程度上归功于教育回报率的上升和农村非农产业的就业增长.     

Cross-National Sources of Health Inequality: Education and Tobacco Use in the World Health Survey

The spread of tobacco use from the West to other parts of the world, especially among disadvantaged socioeconomic groups, raises concerns not only about the indisputable harm to global health but also about worsening health inequality. Arguments relating to economic cost and diffusion posit that rising educational disparities in tobacco use—and associated disparities in health and premature mortality—are associated with higher national income and more advanced stages of cigarette diffusion, particularly among younger persons and males. To test these arguments, we use World Health Survey data for 99,661 men and 123,953 women from 50 low-income to upper-middle–income nations. Multilevel logistic regression models show that increases in national income and cigarette diffusion widen educational disparities in smoking among young persons and men but have weaker influences among older persons and women. The results suggest that the social and economic patterns of cigarette adoption across low- and middle-income nations foretell continuing, and perhaps widening, disparities in mortality.     

Mindfulness and Subjective Well-being in the Sustainability Movement: A Further Elaboration of Multiple Discrepancies Theory

In a previous interpretation of multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), the authors operationalized mutiple discrepancies as gaps between respondents' values and their performance. Using a sample of back-to-the-landers from the larger sustainability movement, the first-stage of the data analysis (Jacob and Brinkerhoff, 1997) confirmed that multiple discrepancies between values and do have a significant impact on subjective well-being (SWB), but this initial analysis also demonstrated that there are intervening variables that can act as compensating factors to attenuate the influence of multiple discrepancies on SWB. In this, the second-stage of data analysis, the authors identify and further explore the interaction of phenomena that might serve as compensation variables in respondents' calculus of their SWB. The present study identifies two salient compensating factors: mindfulness (a calm, yet focused, engagement with the present, similar to a meditative experience), and a sense of an absence of time constraints. Operationalized as Mindfulness and Time for Self scales, these two interrelated variables explain, in multiple regression equations, the major share of variation in multiple measures of SWB. Nevertheless, the multiple discrepancies between values and performance are still significant, if secondary, factors in explaining variance in SWB for the sample of back-to-the- landers.     

Education Enrollment Level and Income Inequality: A Case of SAARC Economies

This article introduces ‘critical open-mindedness’ as a new sociological construct, which can be employed particularly in the studies of social attitudes and attitude change, social values, social identities, cross-cultural relations and social discrimination. By drawing on the data collected through the 2005 World Values Survey in Australia, we have operationalized the construct into an integrative social index, called ‘critical open-mindedness index’ consisting of five dimensional composite indicators (CIs; i.e. the social, political, cultural, economic, and environmental). We have adopted an integrative approach to constructing these composite indicators in which we pragmatically select and incorporate a variety of techniques with the purpose of maximizing the validity of the end results. The findings with respect to Australians’ critical open-mindedness, both in general and in reference to its five dimensions are discussed. We have also developed and examined a social psychological index of ‘socio-cognitive open-mindedness’ inspired by a number of commonly used international scales and by drawing on the same dataset. We have shown that these two types of open-mindedness are qualitatively different. Our analysis does not support the idea that individuals’ social psychological open-mindedness determines their critical open-mindedness. It is rather the opposite which is the case.