EMPIRICAL ESSAYS ON THE ECONOMICS OF SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

WHAT IS WELL-BEING (THE IDEA OF “LIVING A GOOD LIFE”), HOW DO WE MEASURE IT, AND WHAT PREDICTS IT AS A MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONCEPT? THIS TOPIC REMAINS COMPLEX AND ONLY PARTIALLY UNDERSTOOD DESPITE ITS LONG HISTORY, FROM ARISTOTLE’S NICOMACHEAN ETHICS TO ITS POPULARISATION IN THE 1980S. MY WORK (ORGANISED INTO FOUR CHAPTERS) CONTRIBUTES TO THIS TOPIC, FOCUSING ON SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING (SWB). WELL-BEING: ACCOUNTS, DIMENSIONS, CORRELATES AND INNOVATION NEXUS: THE SECTION FIRST PRESENTS CONCEPTUAL NOTES ON ACCOUNTS, MEASUREMENTS, AND DIMENSIONS OF WELL-BEING AND THEN HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPROVEMENT OF WELL-BEING AS A PUBLIC POLICY GOAL. SECOND, THE SECTION SURVEYS CORRELATES OF WELL-BEING, IDENTIFYING A VECTOR OF FACTORS (MONETARY AND NON-MONETARY) RANGING FROM INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL CHARACTERISTICS/ENDOWMENTS TO SOCIAL RESOURCES TO AGGREGATE CONDITIONS. PARTICULAR ATTENTION IS DEVOTED TO INNOVATION-WELL-BEING LINKS (WHICH I ADDRESS IN THE SECOND CHAPTER). AT THE END, I SUGGEST POTENTIAL FRAMEWORKS AND CHANNELS THROUGH WHICH INNOVATION AND WELLBEING RELATE. TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AND HAPPINESS: WHILE THE INNOVATION’S EFFECT IS CLAIMED TO BE DOUBLE-EDGED AND GOES ‘BEYOND GDP’, THE WELL-BEING IMPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION REMAIN UNDERSTUDIED. THIS WORK EXPLORES WHETHER AND HOW INNOVATION HELPS ENHANCE NATIONAL HAPPINESS, EMPLOYING 17 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES’ DATA CONSTRUCTED FROM PATENT AND SURVEY DATA. I DEMONSTRATE THAT INNOVATION IS HAPPINESS-ENHANCING, WHERE NATIONAL INCOME, EMPLOYMENT, HEALTH, AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION PRIMARILY MEDIATE THE RELATIONSHIP. IMPORTANTLY, THE ANALYSIS SHOWS SUCH A RELATIONSHIP IS NOT LINEAR. MOREOVER, HETEROGENEITIES OF THE RELATIONSHIP, DRIVEN MAINLY BY EDUCATION ATTAINMENT, HEALTH STATUS AND INCOME LEVEL, ARE PRESENT. THUS, AS COUNTRIES FINANCE VARIOUS PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES, THESE INSIGHTS COULD INFORM INNOVATION POLICY AND PLANNERS STRIVING TO TRANSLATE TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES INTO HIGHER LEVELS OF LIFE SATISFACTION AND HAPPINESS. ON THE COMPOSITE INDICATORS OF WELL-BEING: I CONTRIBUTE TO THE FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE IN THE FIELD: MEASUREMENT. I CONSTRUCT (NON-)COMPENSATORY (SYNTHETIC) WELL-BEING INDICES IN SIX DIMENSIONS (ECONOMIC, HEALTH, SOCIAL, INSTITUTIONAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL) THAT GO BEYOND TRADITIONAL METRICS, FROM 38 OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE VARIABLES. TO CAPTURE THE CONSTRUCTS, THREE AGGREGATION METHODS WERE COMPARED BY APPLYING THEM TO ITALY’S REGIONAL DATA. THE INDICES AND THEIR RANKINGS SHOW THAT REGIONS DISPLAY UNIQUE COMPETITIVE POSITIONS IN DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF WELL-BEING, BUT THERE EXISTS NO SINGLE REGION THAT IS BETTER OFF IN ALL DIMENSIONS. ALSO, DISPARITIES OF REGIONS ACROSS MACRO AREAS PERSIST. FOR VALIDITY, I LINK THE INDICES TO STANDARD INDICATORS OF SOCIAL PROGRESS (SUCH AS REGIONAL PER CAPITA OUTPUT AND LIFE SATISFACTION SCORES) AND SHOW STRONG ASSOCIATIONS. FURTHER, DOMINANCE ANALYSIS ON INDICES DEMONSTRATES THAT CERTAIN DIMENSIONS OF WELL-BEING, SUCH AS SOCIOECONOMIC, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY, MAY BE MORE RELEVANT FOR POLICY. FOOD INSECURITY, PERCEPTIONS AND HAPPINESS AND ITS INEQUALITY: DOES (PERCEIVED) FOOD INSECURITY (FIN) MATTER FOR A HOUSEHOLD'S HAPPINESS AND ITS DISPARITY? WHAT ARE THE ROLES OF FUTURE SENTIMENTS OR PERCEPTIONS (ABOUT THE ECONOMY, PRICE LEVEL AND EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS) IN SUCH A CONTEXT? USING HIGH-FREQUENCY SURVEY DATA, MULTILEVEL MODELLING AND INDICES OF RELATIVE FIN AND HAPPINESS INEQUALITY, I ADDRESS THESE QUESTIONS. FIN SHAPES HOUSEHOLDS’ SWB (NEGATIVELY) AND ITS INEQUALITY (POSITIVELY), BUT THE RELATIONSHIP VARIES BY HOUSEHOLD. AGAIN, AVERAGE HAPPINESS LEVELS PER SE DIFFER ACROSS HOUSEHOLDS AND THE COUNTRY’S REGIONS. MOREOVER, PERCEPTION (MAINLY ABOUT THE ECONOMY AND EXTREME WEATHER) PREDICTS HOUSEHOLD HAPPINESS, BUT IT DOES SO WITHOUT A SIGNIFICANT INTERACTION (MODERATION) EFFECT WITH FIN. SO, THE IMPLICATIONS ARE CRUCIAL IN FRAGILE AND CLIMATE-VULNERABLE SETTINGS.