The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Interdisciplinary Treatment ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Multidimensional Approach ◽  
Policy Assessment ◽  
Level Indicator ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Psychology And Economics

What are the methodologies that we should employ for designing and evaluating governmental policy, in light of the profound effects that policies have on the level and distribution of individuals’ well-being? The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary treatment of this question—drawing from welfare economics, moral philosophy, and psychology. Part I of the Handbook covers policy-assessment methodologies, both established and emerging. Part II reviews philosophical conceptions of well-being, and the literature on “subjective well-being” in psychology and economics. The chapters in Part III focus specifically on well-being measurement, proposing or empirically illustrating various approaches to constructing a comprehensive individual-level indicator of well-being—or, alternatively, defending a “multidimensional” approach that eschews such a measure. Part IV reviews a variety of challenges for policy assessment. ThisThe Iintroductory chapter describes the Handbook structure and the role that each chapter plays therein, and highlights a number of key Handbook themes.

Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Adler ◽  
Marc Fleurbaey
Keyword(s):  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Interdisciplinary Treatment ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Multidimensional Approach ◽  
Policy Assessment ◽  
Level Indicator ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Psychology And Economics

What are the methodologies that we should employ for designing and evaluating governmental policy, in light of the profound effects that policies have on the level and distribution of individuals’ well-being? The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary treatment of this question—drawing from welfare economics, moral philosophy, and psychology. Part I covers policy-assessment methodologies, both established and emerging. Part II reviews philosophical conceptions of well-being, and the literature on “subjective well-being” in psychology and economics. The chapters in Part III focus specifically on well-being measurement, proposing or empirically illustrating various approaches to constructing a comprehensive individual-level indicator of well-being—or, alternatively, defending a “multidimensional” approach that eschews such a measure. Part IV reviews a variety of challenges for policy assessment. This introductory chapter describes the Handbook structure and the role that each chapter plays therein and highlights a number of key Handbook themes.

scholarly journals How does area-level deprivation depress an individual’s self-rated health and life satisfaction? Evidence from a nationwide population-based survey in Japan

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Oshio ◽  
Hiromi Kimura ◽  
Toshimi Nishizaki ◽  
Takashi Omori
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Health Behavior ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Internet Survey ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Area-level deprivation is well known to have an adverse impact on mortality, morbidity, or other specific health outcomes. This study examined how area-level deprivation may affect self-rated health (SRH) and life satisfaction (LS), an issue that is largely understudied. Methods We used individual-level data obtained from a nationwide population-based internet survey conducted between 2019 and 2020, as well as municipality-level data obtained from a Japanese government database (N = 12,461 living in 366 municipalities). We developed multilevel regression models to explain an individual’s SRH and LS scores using four alternative measures of municipality-level deprivation, controlling for individual-level deprivation and covariates. We also examined how health behavior and interactions with others mediated the impact of area-level deprivation on SRH and LS. Results Participants in highly deprived municipalities tended to report poorer SRH and lower LS. For example, when living in municipalities falling in the highest tertile of municipality-level deprivation as measured by the z-scoring method, SRH and LS scores worsened by a standard deviation of 0.05 (p < 0.05) when compared with those living in municipalities falling in the lowest tertile of deprivation. In addition, health behavior mediated between 17.6 and 33.1% of the impact of municipality-level deprivation on SRH and LS, depending on model specifications. Conclusion Results showed that area-level deprivation modestly decreased an individual’s general health conditions and subjective well-being, underscoring the need for public health policies to improve area-level socioeconomic conditions.

scholarly journals WHETHER INDIVIDUALISM MAKES PEOPLE FROM THE “WEST” HAPPIER AND COLLECTIVISM MAKES PEOPLE FROM THE “EAST” MORE SATISFIED IN LIFE: AN INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL ANALYSIS

2019 ◽  
Vol 128 (6B) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Nguyễn Hữu An ◽  
Lê Duy Mai Phương
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
The West ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Collectivistic Cultures ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Level Of Analysis

Determinants of the variation of happiness have long been discussed in social sciences. Recent studies have focused on investigating cultural factors contributing to the level of individual happiness, in which the cultural dimension of individualism (IND) and collectivism (COL) has been drawing the attention of a large number of scholars. At the cultural level of analysis, happiness is associated with personal achievements as well as personal egoism in individualistic cultures, while it is related to interpersonal relationships in collectivistic cultures. Empirical research yields unconventional results at the individual level of analysis, that is, individuals in collectivistic cultures favor IND to be happy, in contrast, people in individualistic cultures emphasize COL be satisfied in life. Using data from the fifth wave of the World Values Survey (WVS), this study takes the cultural dimension of IND and COL at the individual level of analysis to detect its effects on happiness (conceptualized as subjective well-being – SWB) in the comparison between the two cultures. Multiple linear regression models reveal results that individuals from the “West” experience greater happiness when they expose themselves less individualist, while, individuals from the “East” feel more satisfied and happier in their life when they emphasize more on IND or being more autonomous.

scholarly journals Individual-Level Determinants of Employee Shirking

2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy A. Judge ◽  
Timothy D. Chandler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Work Group ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Organization Level

Employee shirking, where workers give less than full effort on the job, has typically been investigated as a construct subject to organization-level influences. Neglected are individual differences that could explain why employees in the same organization or work-group might shirk. Using a sample of workers from the health care profession in the United States, the present study sought to address these limitations by investigating subjective well-being (a dispositional construct), job satisfaction, as well as other indiuidual-level determinants of shirking. Results indicate that whites shirk significantly more than nonwhites, and that subjective well-being, job satisfaction, and age have significant, negative effects on shirking. The implications of these results are discussed.

scholarly journals Longitudinal access and exposure to green-blue spaces and individual-level mental health and well-being: protocol for a longitudinal, population-wide record-linked natural experiment

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. e027289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Mizen ◽  
Jiao Song ◽  
Richard Fry ◽  
Ashley Akbari ◽  
Damon Berridge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Impact

IntroductionStudies suggest that access and exposure to green-blue spaces (GBS) have beneficial impacts on mental health. However, the evidence base is limited with respect to longitudinal studies. The main aim of this longitudinal, population-wide, record-linked natural experiment, is to model the daily lived experience by linking GBS accessibility indices, residential GBS exposure and health data; to enable quantification of the impact of GBS on well-being and common mental health disorders, for a national population.Methods and analysisThis research will estimate the impact of neighbourhood GBS access, GBS exposure and visits to GBS on the risk of common mental health conditions and the opportunity for promoting subjective well-being (SWB); both key priorities for public health. We will use a Geographic Information System (GIS) to create quarterly household GBS accessibility indices and GBS exposure using digital map and satellite data for 1.4 million homes in Wales, UK (2008–2018). We will link the GBS accessibility indices and GBS exposures to individual-level mental health outcomes for 1.7 million people with general practitioner (GP) data and data from the National Survey for Wales (n=~12 000) on well-being in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. We will examine if these associations are modified by multiple sociophysical variables, migration and socioeconomic disadvantage. Subgroup analyses will examine associations by different types of GBS. This longitudinal study will be augmented by cross-sectional research using survey data on self-reported visits to GBS and SWB.Ethics and disseminationAll data will be anonymised and linked within the privacy protecting SAIL Databank. We will be using anonymised data and therefore we are exempt from National Research Ethics Committee (NREC). An Information Governance Review Panel (IGRP) application (Project ID: 0562) to link these data has been approved.The research programme will be undertaken in close collaboration with public/patient involvement groups. A multistrategy programme of dissemination is planned with the academic community, policy-makers, practitioners and the public.

Volunteering, subjective well-being and public policy

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 97-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Binder ◽  
Andreas Freytag
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being

scholarly journals Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling of the Temporal Dynamics of Subjective Well-Being: A 10 Year Longitudinal Analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeromy Anglim ◽  
Melissa K. Weinberg ◽  
Robert A. Cummins
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Hierarchical Modeling ◽  
Error Variance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Systematic Change ◽  
Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Bayesian Hierarchical ◽  
Individual Level

This study demonstrates, for the first time, how Bayesian hierarchical modeling can be applied to yield novel insights into the long-term temporal dynamics of subjective well-being (SWB). Several models were proposed and examined using Bayesian methods. The models were assessed using a sample of Australian adults (n = 1081) who provided annual SWB scores on between 5 and 10 occasions. The best fitting models involved a probit transformation, allowed error variance to vary across participants, and did not include a lag parameter. Including a random linear and quadratic effect resulted in only a small improvement over the intercept only model. Examination of individual-level fits suggested that most participants were stable with a small subset exhibiting patterns of systematic change.

scholarly journals A Bifactor Model of Subjective Well-Being at Personal, Community, and Country Levels: A Case With Three Latin-American Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Torres-Vallejos ◽  
Joel Juarros-Basterretxea ◽  
Juan Carlos Oyanedel ◽  
Masatoshi Sato
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Bifactor Model ◽  
General Factor ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Specific Level ◽  
Single Measure ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Latin American Countries

Improving citizens' subjective well-being (SWB) has become an increasingly visible policy goal across industrialized countries. Although an increasing number of studies have investigated SWB at the individual level, little is known about subjective evaluation at social levels, such as the community and national levels. While the relationships between these levels have been analyzed in previous research, these assessments, which are part of the same unique construct of SWB, are under-investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the dimensionality and reliability of a single measure of SWB, which contained individual, community, and national levels across three Latin-American countries (Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela), using a bifactor model analysis. Findings showed that the bifactor model exhibited a good fit to the data for the three countries. However, invariance testing between countries was not fully supported because of each item's specific contribution to both specific and general constructs. The analyses of each country showed that the SWB construct was in a gray area between unidimensionality and multidimensionality; some factors contributed more to the general factor and others to the specific level, depending on the country. These findings call for integrating more distant levels (community and country levels) into the understanding of SWB at the individual level, as they contribute not only to an overall construct, but they make unique contributions to SWB, which must be considered in public policy making.

scholarly journals Childcare, work or worries? What explains the decline in parents' well-being at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany?

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Basha Vicari ◽  
Gundula Zoch ◽  
Ann-Christin Bächmann
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Working Mothers ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Working Parents ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Time Work

Objective: We examine how care arrangements, general and altered working conditions, and worries influenced subjective well-being at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic for working parents in Germany. Background: Prior research suggests several reasons for declines in subjective well-being, particularly for working mothers. We employ Pearlin's (1989) stress process model to explore the role of parental childcare, altered working conditions and amplified worries of working parents in terms of increased stressors and modified resources to cope with the extraordinary situation. Method: We use data from two starting cohorts from the National Educational Panel Study and its supplementary COVID-19 web survey from spring 2020 to examine possible heterogeneities in contextual factors for individual-level changes in the well-being of working mothers and fathers. Results: We confirm a more pronounced decline in well-being for working mothers than fathers. Part-time work and access to emergency care reduce the gender gap in decreased well-being. Conversely, young children in the household and personal worries are associated with lower well-being for both parents. However, we cannot explain the more significant decrease in mothers’ well-being by increased childcare responsibilities or altered working conditions. Conclusion: A greater decline in well-being indicates a particular burden among working mothers. However, it cannot be linked solely to gendered inequalities in the changes of paid and unpaid work during the first months of the pandemic.

Sustainable development goals: transportation, health and public policy

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vahid Mohamad Taghvaee ◽  
Abbas Assari Arani ◽  
Mehrab Nodehi ◽  
Jalil Khodaparast Shirazi ◽  
Lotfali Agheli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Policy Network ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals

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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