The Causal Effect of Voluntary Roles in Sport on Subjective Well-Being in European Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Wicker ◽  
Paul Downward
Keyword(s):  
Causal Effect ◽  
Committee Member ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Sport Organizations ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Administrative Roles ◽  
Administrative Tasks

This study examines the causal effect of different voluntary roles in sport on individuals’ subjective well-being. Theoretically, volunteering can affect well-being through various mechanisms, including enjoyment, new contacts, skill development, exercising altruism, and relational goods. The empirical analysis uses data from 28 European countries (n = 52,957). Subjective well-being is measured with self-reported life satisfaction. The number of administrative roles (e.g., board or committee member, administrative tasks), sport-related roles (e.g., coach, instructor, referee), and operational roles (e.g., organize a sport event, provide transport) capture volunteering. The results of linear regression models support the positive relationship between volunteering and subjective well-being as evident in existing research. However, instrumental variable estimates reveal that only the number of operational roles has a significant positive effect on well-being, whereas the effects of administrative and sport-related roles are jointly significantly negative. The findings of this study have implications for sport organizations and policy makers.

scholarly journals Buffer Stock Operations and Well-Being: The Case of Smallholder Farmers in Ghana

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Abokyi ◽  
Dirk Strijker ◽  
Kofi Fred Asiedu ◽  
Michiel N. Daams
Keyword(s):  
Stock Price ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Buffer Stock ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Stabilization Policy ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Aid Policy

AbstractThis study investigates the possible causal relationship between buffer stock operations in Ghanaian agriculture and the well-being of smallholder farmers in a developing world setting. We analyze the differences in the objective and subjective well-being of smallholder farmers who do or do not participate in a buffer stock price stabilization policy initiative, using self-reported assessments of 507 farmers. We adopt a two-stage least square instrumental variable estimation to account for possible endogeneity. Our results provide evidence that participation in buffer stock operations improves the objective and subjective well-being of smallholder farmers by 20% and 15%, respectively. Also, with estimated coefficient of 1.033, we find a significant and robust relationship between objective well-being and subjective well-being among smallholder farmers. This relationship implies that improving objective well-being enhances the subjective well-being of the farmers. We also find that the activities of intermediaries decrease both the objective and subjective well-being of farmers. This study demonstrates that economic, social, and environmental aspects of agricultural life could constitute priorities for public policy in improving well-being, given their strong correlation with the well-being of farmers. Based on the results of this study, we provide a better understanding, which may aid policy-makers, that public buffer stockholding operations policy is a viable tool for improving the well-being of smallholder farmers in a developing country.

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 Do Cigarette Taxes Make Smokers Happier

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan H Gruber ◽  
Sendhil Mullainathan
Keyword(s):  
State Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Differential Impact ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Cigarette Taxes ◽  
Excise Taxes ◽  
Independent Information ◽  
Cigarette Taxation ◽  
Tax Changes

AbstractSome policy makers justify cigarette taxes by arguing that they actually make smokers better off. This argument has been hard to evaluate because behavioral data, such as that showing reduced cigarette consumption following a tax hike, cannot resolve the issue of whether smokers are made better off by the reduction or not. In this paper, we directly assess the effect of cigarette taxes on well-being, using subjective well-being data. We model the differential impact of excise taxes on those with a propensity to smoke, relative to others, in order to control for omitted correlations between happiness and excise taxation. Using US data on happiness and state-level changes in excise taxes, we find consistent evidence that excise taxes make those who have a propensity to smoke happier. To assess robustness, we repeat the exercise using Canadian data, which has independent information on well-being and also much larger tax changes, and find the exact same pattern. Moreover, these impacts are present for cigarette excise taxes, but not for other excise taxes. These results suggest that the welfare effects of cigarette taxation are far more complex than simple rational economic models might predict.

scholarly journals Measuring financial well-being in Europe using a fuzzy set approach

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonella D'Agostino ◽  
Monica Rosciano ◽  
Maria Grazia Starita
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Tailored Approach ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis paper aims to apply a multidimensional approach to assessing the financial well-being of European countries.Design/methodology/approachFinancial well-being is a very complex phenomenon to measure because it is composed of different dimensions. Therefore, this paper uses a multidimensional and fuzzy methodology to assess financial well-being in Europe. The financial well-being fuzzy indicator was calculated using European Quality of Life Survey data.FindingsFinancial well-being is heterogeneous across European countries. This evidence is confirmed both at the level of overall financial well-being and at the level of sub-indices. The degree of financial well-being is not directly related to wealth as traditionally measured (i.e. GDP), but shows some correspondence with socio-economic characteristics of the population and with governance and cultural elements of a country.Practical implicationsUnderstanding financial well-being could help financial institutions to transition from a one-size-fits-all approach to a more tailored approach when they provide financial services and could help policy makers to consider financial well-being when they decide how and where to allocate public spending.Originality/valueTo the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to employ a fuzzy methodology for the analysis of financial well-being in Europe.

scholarly journals The Well-Being Gap during the Great Recession: The Role of Growth and Institutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Marco Ciziceno ◽  
Pietro Pizzuto
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The Great Recession

The purpose of this paper is to examine the well-being dynamics across European countries during the Great Recession and to investigate the potential role of the quality of formal institutions in mitigating the negative effect of the economic downturn. This study uses the club convergence methodology by Phillips and Sul (2007; 2009) to group EU-28 countries that present similar features in terms of well-being during the period 2005-2017. The study also applies probit models to investigate the potential role of several social and institutional characteristics that are supposed to affect subjective well-being levels. The results show the existence of a “well-being gap” among European countries. The economic downturn started in 2008 has impacted the perceived well-being more in low-income and low-growth countries (less developed transition and Southern countries), than in high-income and more developed transition countries. The study also shows that countries that present well-functioning institutional systems and, more in general, good institutional performances show higher life satisfaction levels and tend to be more resilient to the negative effects generated by the economic shock.

The native-migrant gap in job satisfaction across European countries

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Benedetti ◽  
Tiziana Laureti ◽  
Andrea Regoli
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Body ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Hierarchical Level ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Immigrant Status ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Country Level

PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to the body of research on job satisfaction as a subjective dimension of the quality of working life. Specifically, it addresses the comparison of job satisfaction between native-born and foreign-born workers in 28 European countries.Design/methodology/approachA multilevel modelling framework is used for exploring the variability associated with every hierarchical level (individuals constitute the first-level units, combinations country-activity sector are the second-level units and countries are the third-level units).FindingsThe country-specific native-migrant gap in job satisfaction displays some heterogeneity across countries when accounting for socio-demographic and job-related characteristics. Country-level factors have a significant effect on job satisfaction score of all resident workers. Nevertheless, they do not moderate significantly the effect of immigrant status on job satisfaction across countries.Research limitations/implicationsThe unavailability of data on migrants' country of origin and duration of stay in the host country prevents from exploring in more details the integration issues of migrants.Social implicationsJob satisfaction of migrant workers, as an indicator of their working conditions, is fundamental for evaluating the degree of social integration of migrants in their host countriesOriginality/valueA distinctive trait of this research is the use of the 2013 ad hoc EU-SILC module on subjective well-being, which contains subjective evaluations of the satisfaction with the job as well as with other different life domains. Further distinctive aspects are the investigation of (1) the direct effect of country-level factors on job satisfaction and (2) whether country-level factors mediate the effect of the immigrant status on job satisfaction.

scholarly journals Estimating geographic subjective well-being from Twitter: A comparison of dictionary and data-driven language methods

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (19) ◽  
pp. 10165-10171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kokil Jaidka ◽  
Salvatore Giorgi ◽  
H. Andrew Schwartz ◽  
Margaret L. Kern ◽  
Lyle H. Ungar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
County Level ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Regional Effects ◽  
Word Level

Researchers and policy makers worldwide are interested in measuring the subjective well-being of populations. When users post on social media, they leave behind digital traces that reflect their thoughts and feelings. Aggregation of such digital traces may make it possible to monitor well-being at large scale. However, social media-based methods need to be robust to regional effects if they are to produce reliable estimates. Using a sample of 1.53 billion geotagged English tweets, we provide a systematic evaluation of word-level and data-driven methods for text analysis for generating well-being estimates for 1,208 US counties. We compared Twitter-based county-level estimates with well-being measurements provided by the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index survey through 1.73 million phone surveys. We find that word-level methods (e.g., Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count [LIWC] 2015 and Language Assessment by Mechanical Turk [LabMT]) yielded inconsistent county-level well-being measurements due to regional, cultural, and socioeconomic differences in language use. However, removing as few as three of the most frequent words led to notable improvements in well-being prediction. Data-driven methods provided robust estimates, approximating the Gallup data at up to r = 0.64. We show that the findings generalized to county socioeconomic and health outcomes and were robust when poststratifying the samples to be more representative of the general US population. Regional well-being estimation from social media data seems to be robust when supervised data-driven methods are used.

scholarly journals Constraints to growth in informal sector activities and formalisation: A case study of Ghanaian slums

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Darma Mahadea ◽  
Luther-King Junior Zogli
Keyword(s):  
Informal Sector ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Credit Access ◽  
Pca Method

Background: Globally, people often migrate from rural to urban areas in search of employment. Lack of adequate employment opportunities in cities forced individuals to engage in slum informal economic activities out of necessity.Aim: The informal sector presently employed about 86% of labour in Ghana, contributing 42% to its gross domestic product (GDP). Various constraints held back the development of slum informal activities. Formalising the informal sector is advocated as a step to generate employment. This article investigated the dynamics of informal sector activities and formalisation among slum operators in Ghana, based on a survey in two major cities there.Setting: This article investigated the constraints that hinder the development of slum activities in Accra and Kumasi, two cities in Ghana, and examined the informal operators’ subjective well-being and their willingness to graduate to the formal sector, should the constraints be addressed.Methods: Data were collected by means of a questionnaire, administered to a random sample of 342 informal slum operators. Enterprise constraints are examined by using the principal component analysis (PCA) method and the likelihood of the informal operators’ graduating to the formal sector by using logistic regression.Results: The PCA identified six clusters as limitations, explaining about 77% of the variation in constraints. These related to a lack of business knowledge, credit access, tools and materials, security and social networking. The logistic regression results reflect that, of all the constraints, it is only when access to capital is addressed, that slum operators will move into formal activities.Conclusion: When people are happy in what they are doing, they are reluctant to move to the formal sector, despite incentives or interventions that address their enterprise constraints. Hence, slum operators and informal activities are unlikely to disappear. Nevertheless, policy-makers have to devise appropriate financing strategies for slum operators to help in their formalisation and growth pathways.

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