This paper investigates the relative importance of unobservable subjective factors (i.e., genetic, personality, cognitive traits) on happiness. We apply a residual-based approach to distinguish between the direct and indirect effects of unobservable subjective time persistent traits on happiness. We refer to the ‘indirect’ effects as the effects of nobservable variables on happiness mediated by social, economic and family factors. We find that these ‘indirect” effects only explain approximately 25% of the happiness variation at the individual level, while unobserved (i.e., genetic and personality) traits may explain up to 75% of the differences in happiness. We also find that socioeconomic, demographical and institutional factors better explain the variance of happy vs. unhappy people. The empirical analysis is based on the European Quality of Life Survey dataset.

Why some people are not as happy as they could be: the role of unobservable subjective factors

Amendola, Adalgiso;Dell'Anno, Roberto;Parisi, Lavinia
2022-01-01

Abstract

This paper investigates the relative importance of unobservable subjective factors (i.e., genetic, personality, cognitive traits) on happiness. We apply a residual-based approach to distinguish between the direct and indirect effects of unobservable subjective time persistent traits on happiness. We refer to the ‘indirect’ effects as the effects of nobservable variables on happiness mediated by social, economic and family factors. We find that these ‘indirect” effects only explain approximately 25% of the happiness variation at the individual level, while unobserved (i.e., genetic and personality) traits may explain up to 75% of the differences in happiness. We also find that socioeconomic, demographical and institutional factors better explain the variance of happy vs. unhappy people. The empirical analysis is based on the European Quality of Life Survey dataset.
2022
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11386/4800052
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 1
social impact