Volunteering, subjective well-being and public policy

Purpose This study aims to assess and decompose the sustainable development using the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Iran in 2018, for proposing agenda-setting of public policy. Design/methodology/approach It ranks the SDGs not only in Iran but also in the region and the world to reveal the synergetic effects. Findings Based on the results, subaltern-populace generally suffers from the hegemonic domination of ruling elite-bourgeois, lack of strong institutions, heterogeneous policy networks and lack of advocacy role of non-governmental organizations, due to no transparency, issues in law or no rule of law, no stringent regulation, rent, suppression and Mafia, all leading to corruption and injustice. Practical implications To stop the loop of corruption-injustice, Iran should homogenize the structure of the policy network. Furthermore, the failed SDGs of the three-geographic analysis are the same in a character; all of them propose SDG 3, good health and well-being as a serious failed goal. Social implications In this regard, strong evidence is the pandemic Coronavirus, COVID 19 since 2019, due to its highly-disastrous consequences in early 2020 where the public policymakers could not adopt policies promptly in the glob, particularly in Iran. Originality/value In Iran, in addition to this, the malfunction of health is rooted in “subjective well-being” and “traffic deaths,” respectively. Concerning the transportations system in Iran, it is underscored that it is damaging the sustainable development from all the three pillars of sustainable development including, economic, social and environmental.

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The Policy Information Gap and Resettlers’ Well-Being: Evidence from the Anti-Poverty Relocation and Resettlement Program in China

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17082957 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (8) ◽

pp. 2957 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Cong Li ◽

Minglai Li

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Information Acquisition ◽

Reference Group ◽

Well Being ◽

Vulnerable Groups ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Information Gap ◽

Policy Information ◽

Implementation Stages ◽

The Impact

The widespread dissemination of policy information is necessary for the success of the public policy, but the distribution of information among vulnerable groups has received little attention. We examined a public policy that focuses on the poorest people in China, the anti-poverty relocation and settlement program (ARSP). The infrastructure in the region where the policy is implemented is weak, and the information literacy of resettlers is low. This study analyses the impact of the policy information gap on the subjective well-being of resettlers. We found that the distribution of policy information among the poor is uneven, and the resettlers compare the policy information they obtain with a reference group (working-age people and less-educated people in the same village/community) to generate a policy information gap. The policy information gap indirectly affects subjective well-being by affecting the probability that people will be exposed to risks due to policy. As the policy information gap increases, the subjective well-being of resettlers changes in an inverted U-shape. This impact varies significantly among different groups, policy implementation stages, and resettlement methods. Attention should be paid to the information acquisition ability of the vulnerable groups and the welfare effects of social comparison, and to improve the method of publicizing policy information, which helps to improve the well-being of resettlers.

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NonProfits: A Public Policy Tool for the Promotion of Community Subjective Well-Being

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory ◽

10.1093/jopart/muab010 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Robert W Ressler ◽

Pamela Paxton ◽

Kristopher Velasco ◽

Lilla Pivnick ◽

Inbar Weiss ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Nonprofit Organizations ◽

Positive Emotion ◽

Well Being ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Theoretical Understanding ◽

Policy Tool ◽

Twitter Data ◽

Per Capita ◽

Policy Lever

Abstract Looking to supplement common economic indicators, politicians and policymakers are increasingly interested in how to measure and improve the subjective well-being of communities. Theories about nonprofit organizations suggest they represent a potential policy-amenable lever to increase community subjective well-being. Using longitudinal cross-lagged panel models with IRS and Twitter data, this study explores whether communities with higher numbers of nonprofits per capita exhibit greater subjective well-being in the form of more expressions of positive emotion, engagement, and relationships. We find associations, robust to sample bias concerns, between most types of nonprofit organizations and decreases in negative emotions, negative sentiments about relationships, and disengagement. We also find an association between nonprofit presence and the proportion of words tweeted in a county that indicate engagement. These findings contribute to our theoretical understanding of why nonprofit organizations matter for community-level outcomes and how they should be considered an important public policy lever.

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Building Happiness Indicators Some Philosophical and Political Issues

Les ateliers de l éthique ◽

10.7202/1035325ar ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 4-37 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Xavier Landes

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Well Being ◽

Composite Indicators ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Central Theme ◽

Political Issues ◽

Happiness Research ◽

Institutional Issues ◽

Public Debates

Happiness has become a central theme in public debates. Happiness indicators illustrate this importance. This article offers a typology of the main challenges conveyed by the elaboration of happiness indicators, where happiness can be understood as hedonia, subjective well-being, or eudaimonia. The typology is structured around four questions: (1) what to measure?—i.e., the difficulties linked to the choice of a particular understanding of happiness for building an indicator; (2) whom to include?—i.e., the limits of the community monitored by such an indicator; (3) how to collect the data?—i.e., the difficulties stemming from objective and subjective reporting; (4) what to do?—i.e., the concerns about the use of happiness indicators in public policy. The major points of normative contention are discussed for each of these dimensions. The purpose of this article is to contribute in a constructive manner to happiness research by offering an overview of some major philosophical and political challenges of building happiness indicators. The conclusion underlines the importance of the strategy of diversification- hybridization, which consists in setting a variety of indicators or composite indicators that articulate different understandings of happiness. It is stressed that happiness indicators raise democratic and institutional issues with which normative thinkers should deal.

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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Measuring What Matters

Journal of Social Change ◽

10.5590/josc.2016.08.1.05 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Laura Musikanski ◽

Carl Polley

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

United Kingdom ◽

New Zealand ◽

Well Being ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Pursuit Of Happiness ◽

Policy Initiatives ◽

The Third ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Economic Paradigm

This essay focuses on ways in which the governments of Bhutan and the United Kingdom are measuring subjective well-being as well as on how other governments including Norway, Spain, China, Canada, and New Zealand, are exploring the development of subjective well-being indicators. It concludes with recommended actions to aid in the formation of a consistent and comparable subjective well-being indicator for use by governments globally. The third in a series for which the purpose is to provide information to grassroots activists to foster the happiness movement for a new economic paradigm, this essay builds on the previous essays, Happiness in Public Policy and Measuring Happiness to Guide Public Policy: A Survey of Instruments and Policy Initiatives.

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