scholarly journals Happy without money: Minimally monetized societies can exhibit high subjective well-being

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0244569
Author(s):  
Sara Miñarro ◽  
Victoria Reyes-García ◽  
Shankar Aswani ◽  
Samiya Selim ◽  
Christopher P. Barrington-Leigh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Monetary Income ◽  
Very High ◽  
Different Levels

Economic growth is often assumed to improve happiness for people in low income countries, although the association between monetary income and subjective well-being has been a subject of debate. We test this assumption by comparing three different measures of subjective well-being in very low-income communities with different levels of monetization. Contrary to expectations, all three measures of subjective well-being were very high in the least-monetized sites and comparable to those found among citizens of wealthy nations. The reported drivers of happiness shifted with increasing monetization: from enjoying experiential activities in contact with nature at the less monetized sites, to social and economic factors at the more monetized sites. Our results suggest that high levels of subjective well-being can be achieved with minimal monetization, challenging the perception that economic growth will raise life satisfaction among low income populations.

scholarly journals Inequality and Social Rank: Income Increases Buy More Life Satisfaction in More Equal Countries

2020 ◽  
pp. 014616722092385
Author(s):  
Edika G. Quispe-Torreblanca ◽  
Gordon D. A. Brown ◽  
Christopher J. Boyce ◽  
Alex M. Wood ◽  
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Income Distributions ◽  
Equal Income ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Effect

How do income and income inequality combine to influence subjective well-being? We examined the relation between income and life satisfaction in different societies, and found large effects of income inequality within a society on the relationship between individuals’ incomes and their life satisfaction. The income–satisfaction gradient is steeper in countries with more equal income distributions, such that the positive effect of a 10% increase in income on life satisfaction is more than twice as large in a country with low income inequality as it is in a country with high income inequality. These findings are predicted by an income rank hypothesis according to which life satisfaction is derived from social rank. A fixed increment in income confers a greater increment in social position in a more equal society. Income inequality may influence people’s preferences, such that in unequal countries people’s life satisfaction is determined more strongly by their income.

scholarly journals RESEARCH OF THE ECONOMIC FACTORS IMPACT ON THE AUTOMOBILIZATION LEVEL

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (159) ◽  
pp. 161-168
Author(s):  
N. Semchenko
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Road Safety ◽  
Life Quality ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Road Accidents ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
Predicted Values

Mortality from road accidents continues to rise, amounting to 1.35 million deaths per year. It is emphasized that today injuries as a result of road accidents are the main cause of children death and young people aged 5-29 years and the three main causes of person’s death aged 5 to 44 years. Studies of road safety various aspects in different countries have shown that the world has long and steadily formed a global problem of irregular road accidents. First of all, the inverse dependence of the emergency risk on the material well-being of countries is clearly visible. The risk of death as a result of road accidents in low-income countries is three times higher than in high-income countries. The highest rates are in Africa (26.6 cases per 100,000 people) and the lowest in Europe (9.3 cases per 100,000 people). In addition, in recent years, experts are trying to link the actual accident rate in countries with the life quality of their populations. Quality of life as a concept includes not only the material level but also the satisfaction of spiritual needs, health, life expectancy, environmental conditions, moral and psychological climate, emotional comfort, etc., which ultimately determines the transport culture of the population. In this regard, it is of interest to identify links between the results of rating assessments of the people life quality in different countries and the level of these countries road safety typical. To do this, first of all it is necessary to assess the economic factors impact on the motorization level, which is insufficiently studied. The purpose is to determine the dependences of the economic factors impact, namely gross domestic product per capita and average wages, on the motorization level. The data for the study were taken from official statistical sources. The results were processed by methods of mathematical statistics and regression analysis. According to the results of the experiments, regression models were obtained for European countries; Asia and Oceania; The Middle East; Africa; North, Central America and the Caribbean; South America. The comparison of the simulated values and the initial data showed a high degree of correlation. The originality lies in the fact that the regularities of the economic factors influence on the motorization level are investigated, which makes it possible to obtain predicted values in the future. Improving the efficiency and safety of vehicles on the road network is possible based on the use of the motorization level predicted values in research. The obtained research results can be used to determine the feasibility of introducing certain measures to organize traffic.

scholarly journals Lifestyle transitions and the developing world: Reflections on the implications for health, well-being and wealth

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Ufuoma John Ejughemre
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Middle Income

Context: The past few decades witnessed significant economic growth in many developing countries of the world. These economic changes towards increasing gross domestic product (GDP) brought with it several other transitions in these countries: demographic, epidemiological, technological, and nutritional. These resulted in improving the living standards as well as life expectancy in many of these countries. However, of public health concern is the fact that these transitions paradoxically have their negative consequences on the health, well-being and wealth of the populace in these countries. Objectives: This review therefore assesses the evidence of the extent to which these changes have affected the living patterns in many developing countries and the epidemiological implications besides others issues on the populace in these countries. Methods: By using key words, the author involved a broad search of literatures on lifestyle changes, economic growth, nutrition, urbanization, smoking and alcohol, communicable and non-communicable diseases in countries termed low and middle income. Findings and conclusion: The review identified discernible evidence base about the implications of these changes on health, well-being and wealth of these nations. Accordingly, as lifestyle transitions now come to bear, it thus necessitates an all inclusive approach that will include proactive and pre-emptive interventions as well as consistent participation from governments, multilateral institutions, research-funding agencies, donors, and other players in health systems. This is because it will provide the global community with great opportunities in uniting high, middle, and low-income countries in a common purpose, given the shared interests of globalization and economic burdens worldwide.

scholarly journals Income, Health, and Well-Being around the World: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus Deaton
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
National Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Health Satisfaction ◽  
Previous Discussion ◽  
Point Increase ◽  
Per Capita

During 2006, the Gallup Organization conducted a World Poll that used an identical questionnaire for national samples of adults from 132 countries. I analyze the data on life satisfaction and on health satisfaction and look at their relationships with national income, age, and life-expectancy. The analysis confirms a number of earlier findings and also yields some new and different results. Average life satisfaction is strongly related to per capita national income. High-income countries have greater life-satisfaction than low-income countries. Each doubling of income is associated with almost a one-point increase in life satisfaction on a scale from 0 to 10 and, unlike most previous findings, the effect holds across the range of international incomes; if anything, it is slightly stronger among rich countries. Conditional on the level of national per capita income, the effects of economic growth on life satisfaction are negative, not positive as would be predicted by previous discussion and previous micro-based empirical evidence. Neither life satisfaction nor health satisfaction responds strongly to objective measures of health, such as life expectancy or the prevalence of HIV infection, so that neither provides a reliable indicator of population well-being over all domains, or even over health.

National Differences in Personality, Socio-Economicf and Work-Related Attitudinal Variables

1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 255-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce D. Kirkcaldy ◽  
Adrian Furnham ◽  
Terry Martin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Achievement Motivation ◽  
Human Development Index ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Personality Variables ◽  
Work Related

National means were obtained for equivalent age respondents (n = 14 000) in a large sample of countries (n = 53) with respect to personality variables (psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism), socio-economic factors (inflation, gross domestic product (GDP), economic growth, labor force, human development index (HDI), cost of living, divorce rate, family size), and work-related attitudes (work ethic, mastery, achievement motivation, competitiveness, achievement/conformity, money beliefs, and attitudes towards savings). In addition, the subjective well-being measure (SWB) from Diener and colleagues (1995) was included. European countries emerged as showing a lower economic growth, but higher GDP, higher cost of living standards, a higher human development index, as well as smaller family sizes compared to non-European countries. Among European countries, GDP correlated negatively with competitiveness. Participants from nations characterized by high subjective well-being scores were less competitive, and attached less importance to money. Well-being was further associated with a greater need for mastery over problems and events, and achievement through conformity. Moreover, while personality variables were unrelated to economic factors, they were predictably associated with several work attitude scales. More specifically, extraversion was significantly positively correlated with achievement motivation, mastery, and savings, while psychoticism was negatively correlated with work ethic, achievement motivation, and mastery. The implications of the findings are discussed.

scholarly journals Subjective Well-being and Its Determinants in China: An Empirical Study Based on Survey Data

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaling Liang ◽  
Junyi Shen
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
The Past ◽  
Household Survey Data

<p>Using household survey data collected in 2013, this paper empirically investigates the determinants of individual subjective well-being in China, where there has been rapid economic development over the past three decades. The main results are as follows. First, factors such as good health, marital status, life satisfaction, body mass index, physical exercise, and expectations of inflation are all significantly correlated with the reported level of happiness. Second, income has no significant effect on the level of happiness, and happiness has an inverted U-shaped relationship to wealth. Third, increased education decreases the level of happiness. To some extent, these findings can explain why subjective well-being has declined in China, despite its spectacular economic growth. </p>

scholarly journals GENDER EQUALITY-THE NEED OF THE HOUR

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mrs.S.Shanthi ◽  
Kakarla Sai Mitravinda
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Important Thing ◽  
The World

Gender Equality is a very important thing needed for the development of a country. Gender equality has been convincingly appeared to invigorate economic growth, which is crucial for low-income countries. Gender equality among women and men alludes to the equivalent rights, obligations and open doors for women and men and boys and girls. Fairness doesn't imply that women and men will become same however that woman and man's privileges, duties and openings won't rely upon whether they are brought into the world male or female. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs and priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration recognising the diversity of different groups of women and men. This paper clearly brings out the concept of gender equality in SDGs and provoking its importance in the well – being of a country.

More similarities than differences: poverty and social exclusion in rural and urban locations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Bailey ◽  
Maria Gannon
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Rural Places ◽  
Main Message ◽  
Different Levels

Urban and rural locations may have different levels of poverty or social exclusion but also different combinations of problems or forms of exclusion. Understanding these differences is important both for the allocation of resources but also for the development of appropriate policies or interventions. Overall, this chapter argues that the similarities between urban and rural areas are greater than the differences. There are substantial levels of poverty in urban and rural locations although most measures show higher levels in more urban locations. There are notable differences between measures, however, with low income measures inflating estimates of poverty in more rural locations compared with other measures, notably those based on deprivation. Contrary to expectations in much of the literature, we do not find strong differences in the forms of exclusion in different areas: some aspects are worse in urban locations (notably neighbourhood problems and subjective well-being), while others are worse in rural places (notably transport and access to services). The experience of poverty is equally shaming in urban and rural locations. The main message for policy is the need to focus on core national policies to tackle poverty and exclusion in rural and urban locations alike.

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