scholarly journals Smoking status and subjective well-being

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Weinhold ◽  
Frank J Chaloupka
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Smoking Status ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Internet Survey ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Quitting Smoking

Background/aimsA debate is currently underway about the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) methods for evaluating antitobacco regulation. In particular, the US government requires a cost-benefit analysis for significant new regulations, which has led the FDA to consider potential lost subjective well-being (SWB) of ex-smokers as a cost of any proposed antitobacco policy. This practice, which significantly limits regulatory capacity, is premised on the assumption that there is in fact a loss in SWB among ex-smokers.MethodsWe analyse the relationship between SWB and smoking status using a longitudinal internet survey of over 5000 Dutch adults across 5 years. We control for socioeconomic, demographic and health characteristics, and in a contribution to the literature, we additionally control for two potential confounding personality characteristics, habitual use of external substances and sensitivity to stress. In another contribution, we estimate panel fixed effects models that additionally control for unobservable time-invariant characteristics.ResultsWe find strong suggestive evidence that ex-smokers do not suffer a net loss in SWB. We also find no evidence that the change in SWB of those who quit smoking under stricter tobacco control policies is different from those who quit under a more relaxed regulatory environment. Furthermore, our cross-sectional estimates suggest that the increase in SWB from quitting smoking is statistically significant and also of a meaningful magnitude.ConclusionsIn sum, we find no empirical support for the proposition that ex-smokers suffer lower net SWB compared to when they were smoking.

Behavioral Economics, Happiness Surveys, and Public Policy

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 196-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Adler
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Policy Tool ◽  
System 1 ◽  
Limiting Case ◽  
Rational Preferences ◽  
Recent Policy

Two important developments in recent policy analysis are behavioral economics and subjective-well-being (SWB) surveys. What is the connection between them? Some have suggested that behavioral economics strengthens the case for SWB surveys as a central policy tool, e.g., in the form of SWB-based cost-benefit analysis. This article reaches a different conclusion. Behavioral economics shows that individuals in their day-to-day, “System 1” behavior are not expected utility (EU-) rational – that they often fail to comply with the norms of rationality set forth by EU theory. Consider now that the standard preference-based view of individual well-being looks to individuals’ rational preferences. If the findings of behavioral economics are correct, an individual’s answer to a question such as “How satisfied are you with your life?” is not going to tell us much about her rational (EU-compliant) preferences. Behavioral economics, by highlighting widespread failures of EU rationality, might actually argue for an objective-good (non-preference-based) view of well-being. However (except in the limiting case of an objective-good view positing a single mentalistic good, happiness), SWB surveys will not be strong evidence of well-being in the objective-good sense. In short, SWB surveys are no “magic cure” for the genuine difficulties in inferring rational preferences and measuring well-being underscored by behavioral economics.

scholarly journals Measuring functional ability in healthy ageing: a nationwide cross-sectional survey in the Philippine older population

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. e050827
Author(s):  
Dario Moreno-Agostino ◽  
Matthew Prina ◽  
Kia-Chong Chua ◽  
Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan Jotheeswaran ◽  
Ritu Sadana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Functional Ability ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Healthy Ageing ◽  
Secondary Outcome ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Older Population ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Relationship

ObjectivesTo analyse the empirical support of the functional ability concept in the healthy ageing framework developed by the WHO in a sample of the Philippine older population. According to this framework, environmental factors may enhance or hinder functional ability, which is the person’s ability to do what they value, broadly represented by subjective well-being. Moreover, this network of relationships may be moderated by personal characteristics such as gender.DesignCross-sectional observational study.SettingPhilippines, general population.ParticipantsRespondents of the 2016 National Disability Prevalence Survey/Model Functioning Survey aged 50+ (N=2825).Primary and secondary outcome measuresLatent (unobserved) measures of functional ability, environmental factors (physical environmental factors and social network and support) and subjective well-being (positive affect, negative affect and evaluative well-being) were obtained from different items from the survey questionnaire using a SEM framework.ResultsWe found that the relationship between environmental factors and the three components of subjective well-being considered in this study was partially explained by differences in functional ability. The portion of those effects accounted for by functional ability was comparatively larger for the physical than for the social environmental factors. We found no evidences of gender differences in this network of relationships.ConclusionsThese findings suggest the relevance of functional ability at explaining the relationship between environmental factors and subjective well-being in older adults. Future studies may replicate these findings longitudinally and including other relevant measures as the person’s objective level of intrinsic capacity.

scholarly journals Well-Being and Public Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bronsteen ◽  
Christopher Buccafusco ◽  
Jonathan Masur
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Laws And Policies

Governments rely on certain basic metrics and tools to analyze prospective laws and policies and to monitor how well their countries are doing. In the United States, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is the primary tool for analyzing prospective policies, especially with respect to administrative regulations. Similarly, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is perhaps the most prominent metric for monitoring a country's progress. In recent years, one of the most important developments in social science has been the emergence of psychological research measuring subjective well-being (SWB) or ‘happiness’. This article first explains the way in which SWB is measured and how those measurements have been validated. It then discusses well-being analysis (WBA), which uses happiness data to analyze prospective policies more accurately than does CBA. Next, it covers the ways in which SWB data have been used to generate prices that can be used by traditional economic analysis. This is followed by a discussion of attempts to revise CBA to deal with the limitations stemming from the fact that it uses wealth to assess the effects of policy on quality of life. Finally, the article lays out the progress made towards creating an SWB-based alternative to GDP.

The Impact of Welfare Facilities on Happiness of the Elderly: Evidence from Seoul, Korea

2019 ◽  
pp. 0739456X1987411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danya Kim ◽  
Jangik Jin
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Time Specific ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City ◽  
Positive Effect

Across the world, there are growing concerns about how to care for an increasingly large elderly population. We explore how elderly welfare facilities influence seniors’ subjective well-being, focusing on the city of Seoul, Korea, using the 2005–2015 Seoul Survey data. Through pooled cross-sectional data analysis with time-specific and location-specific fixed-effects, we estimate the effect of the number of local welfare facilities on elderly subjective well-being. Our results show that elderly welfare facilities have a positive effect on elderly subjective well-being after controlling for endogeneity, but these facilities are more important for the more aged elderly and lower income elderly.

Happiness-Based Policy Analysis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Dolan ◽  
Daniel Fujiwara
Keyword(s):  
Policy Evaluation ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
Nonmarket Goods ◽  
Over Time

Happiness data have an important role in policy. They can be used to monitor social progress over time in the same way that GDP figures are currently used. They can also be used in the subjective well-being valuation (SWV) approach to value nonmarket goods for the purposes of cost-benefit analysis, the primary policy evaluation tool in many governments. This chapter focuses on the latter of these two uses of happiness surveys, where a significant literature has grown over the last decade. It discusses the main problems associated with traditional valuation methods that rely on people’s preferences and the ways in which it has been suggested that SWV can overcome some of these difficulties. SWV also has its problems, and the chapter discusses these, provides suggestions for how results from SWV should be interpreted, and highlights where solutions to the problems in the SWV method have been proposed in the literature.

scholarly journals Creative Destruction and Subjective Well-Being

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (12) ◽  
pp. 3869-3897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Aghion ◽  
Ufuk Akcigit ◽  
Angus Deaton ◽  
Alexandra Roulet
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Creative Destruction ◽  
Metropolitan Statistical Area ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Job Destruction ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Individual Level

In this paper we analyze the relationship between turnover-driven growth and subjective well-being. Our model of innovation-led growth and unemployment predicts that: (i) the effect of creative destruction on expected individual welfare should be unambiguously positive if we control for unemployment, less so if we do not; (ii) job creation has a positive and job destruction has a negative impact on well-being; (iii) job destruction has a less negative impact in areas with more generous unemployment insurance policies; and (iv) job creation has a more positive effect on individuals that are more forward-looking. The empirical analysis using cross-sectional MSA (metropolitan statistical area)-level and individual-level data provide empirical support to these predictions. (JEL I31, J63, J65, O33, O38)

Conflict Avoidance in Old Age

GeroPsych ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lia Oberhauser ◽  
Andreas B. Neubauer ◽  
Eva-Marie Kessler
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Perceived Social Support ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Conflict Avoidance ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Adult Lifespan ◽  
Set Up

Abstract. Conflict avoidance increases across the adult lifespan. This cross-sectional study looks at conflict avoidance as part of a mechanism to regulate belongingness needs ( Sheldon, 2011 ). We assumed that older adults perceive more threats to their belongingness when they contemplate their future, and that they preventively react with avoidance coping. We set up a model predicting conflict avoidance that included perceptions of future nonbelonging, termed anticipated loneliness, and other predictors including sociodemographics, indicators of subjective well-being and perceived social support (N = 331, aged 40–87). Anticipated loneliness predicted conflict avoidance above all other predictors and partially mediated the age-association of conflict avoidance. Results suggest that belongingness regulation accounts may deepen our understanding of conflict avoidance in the second half of life.

scholarly journals Individual differences and changes in lifestyle behaviours predict decreased subjective well-being during COVID-19 restrictions in an Australian sample

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Brindal ◽  
Jillian C Ryan ◽  
Naomi Kakoschke ◽  
Sinead Golley ◽  
Ian T Zajac ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Australian Sample

Abstract Background Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, social distancing practices were introduced to curb infection rates in many countries. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of these restrictions on behaviours and well-being and whether individual differences predict changes in well-being. Methods Australian adults participated in a cross-sectional, online survey during May 2020. The survey captured demographic information; health behaviours; personality traits; life satisfaction and COVID-19-related attitudes, financial concerns, perceived risks and impacts. Results In total, 3745 (86.8% of 4313) participants completed all items. Participants were mostly female (85.7%) and 56.4 years (standard deviation [SD] = 12.6) on average. Over 95.0% of the sample indicated they had been social distancing or isolating. Health behaviours and well-being had generally worsened, with social connections being the most negatively affected. Life satisfaction was significantly lower since restrictions. For changes in life satisfaction, extroversion was a risk factor and openness to experience was a protective factor. Conclusions Overall, well-being was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing particularly in this sample containing mainly older women. In future, it will be crucial to understand why and who may be differentially affected, to encourage behaviours that are protective of well-being.

scholarly journals Association between participation in the government subsidy programme for domestic travel and symptoms indicative of COVID-19 infection in Japan: cross-sectional study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. e049069
Author(s):  
Atsushi Miyawaki ◽  
Takahiro Tabuchi ◽  
Yasutake Tomata ◽  
Yusuke Tsugawa
Keyword(s):  
Sore Throat ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
High Fever ◽  
Internet Survey ◽  
Government Subsidy ◽  
Sampling Weights ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Taste Disorder ◽  
The Government

ObjectiveTo investigate the association between participation in government subsidies for domestic travel (subsidise up to 50% of all travel expenses) introduced nationally in Japan on 22 July 2020 and the incidence of symptoms indicative of COVID-19 infections.DesignCross-sectional analysis of nationally representative survey data.SettingInternet survey conducted between 25 August and 30 September 2020 in Japan. Sampling weights were used to calculate national estimates.Participants25 482 survey respondents (50.3% (12 809) women; mean (SD) age, 48.8 (17.4) years).Main outcome measuresIncidence rate of five symptoms indicative of the COVID-19 infection (high fever, sore throat, cough, headache, and smell and taste disorder) within the past month of the survey, after adjustment for characteristics of individuals and prefecture fixed effects (effectively comparing individuals living in the same prefecture).ResultsAt the time of the survey, 3289 (12.9%) participated in the subsidy programme. After adjusting for potential confounders, we found that participants in the subsidy programme exhibited higher incidence of high fever (adjusted rate, 4.7% for participants vs 3.7% for non-participants; adjusted OR (aOR) 1.83; 95% CI 1.34 to 2.48; p<0.001), sore throat (19.8% vs 11.3%; aOR 2.09; 95% CI 1.37 to 3.19; p=0.002), cough (19.0% vs 11.3%; aOR 1.96; 95% CI 1.26 to 3.01; p=0.008), headache (29.2% vs 25.5%; aOR 1.24; 95% CI 1.08 to 1.44; p=0.006) and smell and taste disorder (2.6% vs 1.8%; aOR 1.98; 95% CI 1.15 to 3.40; p=0.01) compared with non-participants. These findings remained qualitatively unaffected by additional adjustment for the use of 17 preventative measures (eg, social distancing, wearing masks and handwashing) and fear against the COVID-19 infection.ConclusionsThe participation of the government subsidy programme for domestic travel was associated with a higher probability of exhibiting symptoms indicative of the COVID-19 infection.

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