Spatial proximity and SWB a study across nations

  • Authors

    • Varsha Sureshkumar
    • Sangeetha Gunasekar
    • Balasubramanian P
    2018-06-08
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i2.33.15549
  • Subjective Wellbeing, Spatial Proximity, Population Density, World Values Survey Database, Easterly Paradox, Cross Country, Respondent Level Data.

  • Abstract

    Subjective wellbeing (SWB) has gained importance as a key indicator of an individual’s level happiness, as well as the happiness of a nation as a whole. This paper examined the influence of a spatial proximity variable like population density on the level of individual subjective wellbeing, along with established sociodemographic and economic variables. Respondent level data from 44 countries in Wave 6 of the World Values Survey was used to perform a cross country TOBIT analysis. Results showed that spatial proximity at the respondent level has a positive and significant impact on the SWB of individuals, with the inclusion of population density adding to the explanatory power of our model. This study relies on respondent level information from the World Values Survey about spatial proximity, whereas other studies have utilized country level statistics.

     

     

     

  • References

    1. [1] Veenhoven, R. (1996), “Happy Life-Expectancy: A Comprehensive Measure of Quality-of-Life in Nationsâ€, Social Indicators Research, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 1–58.

      [2] Silver, B. D. and Dowley, K. M. (2000), “Measuring Political Culture in Multiethnic Societies: Reaggregating the World Values Surveyâ€, Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 517–550.

      [3] Sacks, D. W.; Stevenson, B. Wolfers, J. (2010), “Subjective well-being, income, economic development and growthâ€, (CESifo working paper: Fiscal Policy, Macroeconomics and Growth, No. 3206), Munich, Germany.

      [4] Stevenson, B. and Wolfers, J. (2008), “Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox†(Brookings Papers on Economic Activity). R. Nicole, “Title of paper with only first word capitalized,†J. Name Stand. Abbrev. In press.

      [5] Oswald, A. J. (1997), “Happiness and Economic Performanceâ€, the Economic Journal. Vol. 107, No. 445, pp. 1815–1831.

      [6] Lu, L., Gilmour, R. and Kao, S.F. (2001), “Cultural Values and Happiness: An East-West Dialogueâ€, the Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 141, No. 4, pp. 477–493.

      [7] Carnahan, D., Gove, W. and Galle, O. R. (1974), “Urbanization, population density, and overcrowding: Trends in the quality of life in urban Americaâ€, Social Forces, Vol. 53, No.1, pp. 62–72.

      [8] Fassio, O., Rollero, C., and De Piccoli, N. (2013), “Health, Quality of Life and Population Density: A Preliminary Study on “Contextualized†Quality of Lifeâ€, Social Indicators Research, Vol. 110, No. 2, pp. 479–488.

      [9] Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., and Smith, H. L. (1999), “Subjective Well-Being: Three Decades of Progressâ€, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 125, No. 2, pp. 276–302.

      [10] Easterlin, R. A. (1974), “Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidenceâ€, Nations and Households in Economic Growth, Vol. 89, pp. 89–125.

      [11] Easterlin, R. A., and Angelescu, L. (2009), “Happiness and Growth the World Over: Time Series Evidence on the Happiness-Income Paradoxâ€, (Discussion paper series No. 4060), Bonn, Germany.

      [12] Di Tella, R., MacCulloch, R. J. and Oswald, A. J. (2003), “The Macroeconomics of Happinessâ€, the Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 85, No. 4, pp. 809–827.

      [13] Helliwell, J. F. (2003), “How’s life? Combining individual and national variables to explain subjective well-beingâ€, Economic Modelling, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 331–360.

      [14] Blanchflower, D. and Oswald, A. J. (2005), “Happiness and the Human Development Index: The Paradox of Australiaâ€, (IZA Discussion Papers, No. 1601), Australia.

      [15] D’Acci, L. (2011), “Measuring Well-Being and Progressâ€, Social Indicators Research, Vol. 104, No. 1, pp. 47–65.

      [16] Inglehart, R. (2006), “Democracy and Happiness: What Causes What?†Paper Presented at the Conference on Human Happiness 22-24 October 2006. Notre Dame University, United States of America.

      [17] Dorn, D., Fischer, J. A. V, Kirchgassner, G., and Sousa-Poza, A. (2007), “Is it culture or democracy? The impact of democracy and culture on happinessâ€, Social Indicators Research, Vol. 82, No. 3, pp. 505–526.

      [18] Helliwell, J. F. and Huang, H. (2008), “How’s Your Government? International Evidence Linking Good Government and Well-Beingâ€, British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 595–619.

      [19] Brereton, F., Clinch, J. P., & Ferreira, S. (2008), “Happiness, geography and the environment “, Ecological Economics, Vol. 65 No. 2, pp. 386–396.

      [20] Cramer, V., Torgersen, S. and Kringlen, E. (2004), “Quality of Life in a City: The Effect of Population Densityâ€, Social Indicators Research, Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 103–116.

      [21] Gerdtham, U. G. and Johannesson, M. (2001), “The relationship between happiness, health, and socio-economic factors: Results based on Swedish microdataâ€, Journal of Socio-Economics, Vol. 30, No.6, pp. 553–557.

      [22] Halloran, T. M. (2012), Better Together. Population Density and Well-Being in the United States.

      [23] Unpublished Master’s thesis, Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Georgetown University, Washington DC, United States of America.

      [24] Tobin, J. (1958), “Estimation of relationships for limited dependent variablesâ€, Econometrica, Vol. 26, N0. 1, pp. 24-36.

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    Sureshkumar, V., Gunasekar, S., & P, B. (2018). Spatial proximity and SWB a study across nations. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(2.33), 994-997. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i2.33.15549

    Received date: 2018-07-13

    Accepted date: 2018-07-13

    Published date: 2018-06-08